Rear spring replacement
 

I know this is a stupid question, but when people do this job, do they manage it without touching the inner upper arm and lower arm bolts, i.e the ones that bolt to the captive nuts on the subframe?

Ive done this job twice now, but was so long ago that I cannot remember much. I do remember a total and utter nightmare with the subframe captive nuts, and I do NOT want to touch these if at all possible.

In theory, can you just remove the roll bar links, swivel the roll bar out of the way, and loosen the OUTER upper and lower arm bolts and this is enough?

Infact, do you even have to loosen the lower arm bolt at all?

If my memory was better I'd have rememberd how I did it before, I guess old age is creeping up :)))

Hopefully this post should help.........

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=21218

That's the how to.... I followed, just swing the anti roll bar down and its simple

You don't need to remove the ARB to replace the rear springs

Simply slacken slightly the subframe bolts opposite side to the spring you're changing, and remove the ones on the side you're changing the spring on, along with the bottom damper mount.

Once you done that, refit the subframe bolts to that side and remove the opposite side.

Once the new springs are fitted, torque up the subframe bolts to the specified torque and job done

Beats frabbing about with drop links and rusted fasteners any day of the week.....20 minutes to do both rear springs

Brian :D

What does this do? Allow an extra amount of lowering of that sides suspension in proportion to how much the subframe is dropped?

Does this not cause alignment issues afterwards?

What I dont understand is the need to remove the lower arm to hub bolt... what is the reason for this? Infact.. if you didnt go down the subframe route... and you are just yanking the suspension downwards, what is the need to slacken/remove either of the lower arm and upper arm bolts to the hub?

Im just about to go out and do this, its going to be a long night.

I believe the spring swap can be done without removing this bolt (they can be tight and difficult to shift) - what it does do though, is allow you to pull down the lower arm further when putting the new spring in place so makes the alignment of the bayonet fitting/drain holes etc. a bit easier. I took this bolt out when I did mine.

Good luck

Let us know how you get on !

Pete

Im not saying my method is approved at all, but i just dropped the shock absorber bolt, and the drop link, then basically just levered the spring out with a crow bar. Pretty easy i found. A bit harder prying the new one back in, because its longer than the broken one, but it went soon enough.

It doesn't cause alignment issues Ross, and if this were not the easiest way of doing the job I would not have suggested it.

Think about it logically, the subframe is located with four bolts which in turn pass through a clearance hole in the subframe metalastic bush and then on and into a captive nut in the chassis.

What you are doing is increasing the gap between the fixed point, ie the upper spring mounting, and the upper arm.

Trust me it works, and works well, disregard the advice if you wish, but you will find the job takes much longer, and has more risk of secondary damage to your knuckles, and things like drop links.

An eight hour marathon the first time I carried out this job, was transformed into a 20 minute job.

Brian :D

Spent a solid 1hr trying to remove 3/4 of a coil which was literally bonded to the rubber isolator at the bottom....:(

Of course I was aware these are NLA now, so was trying to be extra careful.

I loosened off the top bolt, but left the bottom arm to hub bolt, and just a push on the hub downwards, was enough to replace the spring.

Maybe this is not recommended, but the bushes did not seem under any real strain.

Hopefully the non-broken side will be a lot easier, as you can pop out the isolators with the end of a breaker bar for instance.

:)