xantia rear swinging arm bushes

flarequest · Unread post by **flarequest** » 04 Apr 2004, 14:21

i have an early xantia with no anti sink and i'm faced with an expensive repair bill (300 - 500 pounds i've been quoted) to replace the rear swinging arm bushes on both sides. the rear wheels tilt inwards at the top and i have very uneven tyre wear. is there anyone out there who can offer advice, tips and pointers of doing this repair? the haynes manual seems a little vague to me, i'm more used to working on motorbikes but i'll take the job on. the exact model is L reg 1.9 normally aspirated diesel saloon. many thanks, flarequest.

David W · Unread post by **David W** » 04 Apr 2004, 14:48

Find someone trustworthy (like on this forum) who is breaking a Xantia and can tell you it had decent rear arms. I guess these might sell for £40-£60 the pair and following the Haynes procedure you should change them without too much trouble in a few hours.
Bearings in your old arms can be replaced but this is a little more involved. The first time of doing the job it is far easier just to have another arm to swap straight back on.
David

flarequest · Unread post by **flarequest** » 07 Apr 2004, 00:21

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by D J Woollard</i>

Find someone trustworthy (like on this forum) who is breaking a Xantia and can tell you it had decent rear arms. I guess these might sell for £40-£60 the pair and following the Haynes procedure you should change them without too much trouble in a few hours.
Bearings in your old arms can be replaced but this is a little more involved. The first time of doing the job it is far easier just to have another arm to swap straight back on.
David
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

DLM · Unread post by **DLM** » 07 Apr 2004, 03:59

Or, if you can't get recently re-conned arms, then consider buying some secondhand arms, if possible on a returnable basis. You can then re-con them off-car using the complete repair kit, and then fit these. They should be probably less worn than yours - badly worn roller bearings may start to gouge into the metal body of the arm itself.

mbunting · Unread post by **mbunting** » 07 Apr 2004, 17:43

With my first lot, I was slow, and careful not to skip any steps, and follow the book of lies to the letter. It took me about six hours to do both sides.
With my second lot ( don't ask ! ), because I knew what I was doing, it took me about 1.5 hours per side.
The bearing kits you'll need are about £12 per side from GSF, and you'll need to take the rear spheres off, which is easy unless thier stuck on !

shaunthesheep · Unread post by **shaunthesheep** » 09 Apr 2004, 02:34

if you are looking for replacment rear swing arms, then this might be of some interest whilst i was in a scrap yard in ipswich earlier this week, i did notice a xantia, if you want to take them off yourself. or you could do a search on www.google.co.uk for citroen breakers etc...

Homer · Unread post by **Homer** » 09 Apr 2004, 13:16

I would get some more quotes, sound like they are quoting you for complete new arms at Citroen dealership prices. Find somewhere which will use S/H or reconditioned arms.
From your description of the symptoms your arms are probably beyond reconditioning.