replacing upper rear suspension arms

[Gino]

Originally Posted by macafee2

have you tried plus gas or some other penatrating oil? may have to cut it off

macafee2

I used bilt hambers ferrosol which seemed to work, apart from 3. The inner arm bolts started off nicely, I kept backing off too, then the nuts sheared off. Very annoying!

Rob

[Gino]

Evening all,

just an update on replacing my rear upper arms.

After giving up I tried to book my car in at my usual garage. Unfortunately, he was booked up for three weeks - or he knew what a pig of a job it was going to be!
That left me no option but to do it myself. I ordered more bolts, and bolt removers & on the Monday of my next off week I set to work. All the previously removed bolts come out easy, then came the drivers side lower damper bolt. With some persuasion with Irwin bolt removers, it finally came out. I then removed the d/s lower arm followed by the p/s lower arm, well that was the plan. Even with the bolt removers it wouldn't budge. Fine I'll drop the subframe with it attached.
That was fun! I had to lower the exhaust & in doing so saw that the inner hanger had torn through both skins . What a pain. The rest of it was in good nick.
With the subframe on the ground I was able to remove both upper arms & undo the p/s lower arm bolt. Alas, I still could not remove the arm as the bolt had welded itself to the ally bush, meaning it would have to be cut out.
After several phone calls a garage in town was willing to cut it out, but not 'til Wednesday. I ordered new lower arms & drop links at this point too.
I spent Tuesday cleaning up & repainting the subframe & anti roll bar, waxing the now exposed floor pan, springs & spring mounting points with Dynax S50.
Wednesday came, armed with a freshly painted subframe with all bolt finally removed & with new lower arms I set to work. By far the hardest part was getting the subframe back in place (the upper arms had to be bolted on first due to the removal of the captive nuts). After that it was plain sailing & I am proud I was able to do it myself.

[David Lawrence]

Originally Posted by Gino

Evening all,

just an update on replacing my rear upper arms.

After giving up I tried to book my car in at my usual garage. Unfortunately, he was booked up for three weeks - or he knew what a pig of a job it was going to be!
That left me no option but to do it myself. I ordered more bolts, and bolt removers & on the Monday of my next off week I set to work. All the previously removed bolts come out easy, then came the drivers side lower damper bolt. With some persuasion with Irwin bolt removers, it finally came out. I then removed the d/s lower arm followed by the p/s lower arm, well that was the plan. Even with the bolt removers it wouldn't budge. Fine I'll drop the subframe with it attached.
That was fun! I had to lower the exhaust & in doing so saw that the inner hanger had torn through both skins . What a pain. The rest of it was in good nick.
With the subframe on the ground I was able to remove both upper arms & undo the p/s lower arm bolt. Alas, I still could not remove the arm as the bolt had welded itself to the ally bush, meaning it would have to be cut out.
After several phone calls a garage in town was willing to cut it out, but not 'til Wednesday. I ordered new lower arms & drop links at this point too.
I spent Tuesday cleaning up & repainting the subframe & anti roll bar, waxing the now exposed floor pan, springs & spring mounting points with Dynax S50.
Wednesday came, armed with a freshly painted subframe with all bolt finally removed & with new lower arms I set to work. By far the hardest part was getting the subframe back in place (the upper arms had to be bolted on first due to the removal of the captive nuts). After that it was plain sailing & I am proud I was able to do it myself.

Nice job and an inspiration for others hopefully.

[macafee2]

herck you did have a hard job of it, seems i got away with an easy job

macafee2

[Gino]

Yes the old girl did seem to be fighting me. Fortunately I don't think there's too many big jobs left.

Rob

[Gizmo150]

Trying to replace the o/s upper arm but running into big problems.

The outer arm bush which is connected to the brake hub is seized solid so I cut it off with an angle grinder and destroyed the bush removing it with a chisel and lump hammer. I tried a puller but it knackered the treads. However as other members have discovered the outer ring is stuck solid in the housing so I will use their method and cut some slots with a hack saw and drift it out.

That's the least of my troubles. The inner arm has a bolt going through the rear sub-frame to a captive nut. However I think it is no longer captive as the bolt just spins.

Ok, the big question is:-

1. Others have removed the complete sub-frame; is there an access to the captive nut from the top side?

2. Has anyone cut a circular whole into the rear of the sub-frame to access the bolt head. Is this too dangerous to consider or is it a viable alternative?

Look forward to your ideas.

[emm-gee-zed-tee]

Originally Posted by macafee2

bolts came out of their captive nut as if they we new, so relived. One side has a broken coil spring and the other side had the bolt seized in the bush by brake plate.
I used a hack saw and made to cuts, one either side of the bush and have removed the arm. What I cant do, is remove the blessed bush from they casting.
May need to dismantle car even more and take it to somewhere that has a press.
A job for Monday.


This is what I was worried about, getting to a point where I can not put car together or get it apart.
All, is not lost.



macafee2

Ah, The memories come flooding back...The exact same problems as I had with mine...Got there in the end though...

[emm-gee-zed-tee]

I used one of these to get the bushes out.
Came out a doddle...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2527341195...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[macafee2]

i was thinking of making something similar

macafee2

[David Lawrence]

Drop the frame, its not actually as difficult as it might seem. Also it is just a square nut, not a proper one so very tricky to fiddle with when you cant see what you are doing