#1: Radius arm bush Author: Carlosrexx, Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:19 am ---- Hello
So I have a 1.4 206 2001 in black, LX model. Now it went for an MOT and it failed on the radius arm bush on the drivers rear. Quite badly so, I only realised when the guy took it off the ramp and the back wheel had some serious camber.
Now, I've read up on this and apparantly they are absolute A**holes to do? Is this true? Would I be better just finding another rear beam?
Thanks in advance, when it's abit lighter I will get some snaps up of the issue.
Cheers
#2: Re: Radius arm bush Author: Kale, Location: Southern FinlandPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:37 am ---- I guess you mean the trailing arm to axle shaft bearings? It's not so bad if you know what you're doing. Only thing is that because they have gone to that point when the wheel starts having camber there might be wear on the axle side also and then a refurbished full axle would be a wise decision..
About the work itself, you'll have to remove the anti roll bar - knock or pull out the flange from the other side that is hold on the trailing arm with a 13mm bolt. There is a plastic torx bolt on the middle of the flange, screw a same size metal bolt into there and it will pull out the flange from the anti roll bar splines. Then the whole arb can be pulled out from the other side.
I would remove the rear shock absorbers at this point.
Then you'll have to remove the torsion bar torx bolts and offset washers, then knock out the torsion bars making a note of the ride height beforehand (for example measurement between the wheel arch and the hub). Take the weight of the trailing arm on a trolley jack or something and raise it a few millimeters before trying to knock out the bars, this releases the tension from them. After that the trailing arms can be pulled or knocked off the axle. Removing the brake lines makes life easier for a moment, if you don't count the bleeding process afterwards. Also the ABS harness has to be unclipped overneath the axle if the car has them.
The bearings are fitted inside the trailing arm, two different bearings on each arm. These can be quite difficult to knock out, hammer and a chisel are my weapons of choice. The the new ones can be pressed in or knocked in with a rubber mallet (and a socket). Axle shaft pins shouldn't be corroded (and they likely are) or the new bearings will fail again in a short period of time. But at this point it is easy to drop out the rest of the axle shaft and fit a new/better one. Then it is just reverse of removal. Torsion bars can be installed to their place by spinning them against the splines and they will find their place, trailing arm has to be hold at the wanted ride height when installing the torsion bars.. Fit everything back on, bleed the brakes and it's done. If the axle hasn't been opened before you'll easily waste a good 4-6 hours on the job..
Torsion bars come out of the car through the trailing arm hole they are fitted on. This is because the splines on the bars are bigger on the trailing arm side and they won't fit through the hole on the axle side (on the other side of the car). Also it would be a good idea to clean the splines on the bars well and smear them with copper paste or similar to make future removal easier. Also it helps installing when you can just slide them in with fingers. I usually take the torsion bar and push it through the hole on the trailing arm / axle a couple of times (turn it around and only fit one end) with some wd40 or similar on the splines untill they are cleaned up. Then clean it with brake cleaner and apply copper paste.
Don't mix the torsion bars up, other one is meant for the drivers side and the other is for the passanger side. Last edited by Kale on Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:51 am; edited 1 time in total
#3: Re: Radius arm bush Author: Carlosrexx, Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:46 am ----
Kale wrote:
I guess you mean the trailing arm to axle shaft bearings? It's not so bad if you know what you're doing. Only thing is that because they have gone to that point when the wheel starts having camber there might be wear on the axle side also and then a refurbished full axle would be a wise decision..
About the work itself, you'll have to remove the anti roll bar - knock or pull out the flange from the other side that is hold on the trailing arm with a 13mm bolt. There is a plastic torx bolt on the middle of the flange, screw a same size metal bolt into there and it will pull out the flange from the anti roll bar splines. Then the whole arb can be pulled out from the other side.
I would remove the rear shock absorbers at this point.
Then you'll have to remove the torsion bar torx bolts and offset washers, then knock out the torsion bars making a note of the ride height beforehand (for example measurement between the wheel arch and the hub). After that the trailing arms can be pulled or knocked off the axle. Removing the brake lines makes life easier for a moment, if you don't count the bleeding process afterwards. Also the ABS harness has to be unclipped overneath the axle if the car has them.
The bearings are fitted inside the trailing arm, two different bearings on each arm. These can be quite difficult to knock out, hammer and a chisel are my weapons of choice. The the new ones can be pressed in or knocked in with a rubber mallet (and a socket). Axle shaft pins shouldn't be corroded (and they likely are) or the new bearings will fail again in a short period of time. But at this point it is easy to drop out the rest of the axle shaft and fit a new/better one. Then it is just reverse of removal. Torsion bars can be installed to their place by spinning them against the splines and they will find their place, trailing arm has to be hold at the wanted ride height when installing the torsion bars.. Fit everything back on, bleed the brakes and it's done. If the axle hasn't been opened before you'll easily waste a good 4-6 hours on the job..
Wow, thanks for that! So, would it be better for me to just get another ream beam/axle from a breakers? I mean I'm quite mechanically minded, I could tackle it myself but I need it back on the road asap and buying another beam would minimise the time it takes and something going wrong.
Hmmmm
#4: Re: Radius arm bush Author: Kale, Location: Southern FinlandPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:55 am ---- If you need the car daily then it would be wise. Then you can take the time and pull the old axle apart to see how it's put together and maybe fix it. And then you have the experience to open up the "new" axle on some sunny day and change the bearings on it for the peace of mind.
#5: Re: Radius arm bush Author: Carlosrexx, Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:52 pm ---- I'm going down the whole rear beam route, spoke to a guy at 'im axle' and he said he can supply one asap
#6: Re: Radius arm bush Author: Edward, Location: In the garagePosted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:15 pm ---- Just changing the bearings doesn't fix the axle pins that are likely to be damaged.
#7: Re: Radius arm bush Author: Kale, Location: Southern FinlandPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:47 am ---- What did I say before
Quote::
Axle shaft pins shouldn't be corroded (and they likely are) or the new bearings will fail again in a short period of time. But at this point it is easy to drop out the rest of the axle shaft and fit a new/better one.
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