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[feeutfo]

Good work Amba nice and methodical, one step at a time

[amba]

Thanks,Chris...not sure the donuts will as straight forward though.

Lets hope they just fall out as looking at them they seem to be totally shot.

Would it be wise just lifting 1 side at a time to do them ? as sure I read somebody did them with the wheels still on /just jacked up and supported behind triangle plate.

[feeutfo]

Imo...

Jack on to stand placed on the chassis rail by exhaust hanger, get the car as high as reasonably possible, raising the self levelling on elites saves a bit of work/jacking.

Once on stand replace the jack under the subframe arm and lift so as much of the cars weight is holding the arm still. Idea is to pin it still so it doesnt move.

Remove bolts to triagular plate and center of bush.

Note the orientation of the old bush.

Remove bush. Lever out with claw hammer, pull out with small baring puller, or however you want to do it, doesnt matter how.

fitting depends on what make bush you have, febi are a looser fit and can be smacked in with a big bat and a bit of spit to help the bush slide in. Lemforder are tighter and may need another jack to press it in as far as pos. You may find it wont go in the last 5mill or so, so then fit the bush bolt and tighten to pull ot in the rest of the way. Give the bush rim a dam good smack with a hammer all round to make sure while its pulled in with the bolt.

Job done, remove bolt, refit plate and bolts to correct torque settings, drop the car and away you go.

[amba]

Started on O/S and after a bit of a battle trying to get axle stand positioned correctly.

Old bush came out much easier than had expected although did take some far effort.Had thought the condition would be worse that it was..only minor splitting internally and around the centre metal tube.Unsure if it is original 1998 but has a VX part number on it so assume it must be.

Biggest issue is getting the new Lemforder one back in.Have had a small trolley jack and block of wood on the metal centere shaft now for almost 30 mins and it hasn,t budged a mm further in.Have hit the hell out of it and still wont budge and cannot get the long centre bolt in as too far away from the rear captive nut.

Will go and give it some more grief but had expected removal to be worse than replacement.

Will keep you posted !!

[amba]

All now sorted...resorted to a small trolley jack with wood block and kept pushing at each of the three cut outs and it eventually poppped in place.

Now on to nearside but atleast I now know what I am doing,??

2 hours 15 mins for 1 side and thats a novice..quite impressed if I say so myself

[Neil_MV6]

It's always a bugger the first time you do it, you don't know which bits are going to be hard, or whether a certain part should be hard. I lay on my back in utter ruin trying to get the first one out. It took three hours and no end of levering and banging and in the end, grinding!

Eventually it came out and the next side was a sinch as i knew exactly which way to tackle it. Good work! 

[amba]

Thanks for words of inspiration,Neil.

In truth the n/s was slightly easier as I now knew the plan..It took me just on 2 hours and spent the last hour clearing up and trying to work out why my new suspension was not sitting level,which I think I have also found the answer to...so all in all a fair day..well 5 hours,so time for a shower then go to work.

[Boracic]

I read the tail of the spring needs to face the rear of car, I may have misunderstood that and have done what it said in the haynes book of lies, it says the face of the tail should face the rear, does it make much difference if the face of the springs are facing the rear? I dont really feel like doing it again, it was a pain in the rear but had to be done as the whole bottom of the spring was missing, it seems to drive ok now

[amba]

I followed the details as supplied by MarkDTM in the maintenance guide and he advised the top pigtail should face the REAR of the car.

When dismantled I found that the top rubber mounting mat has a groove in the rubber to allow for the top of the spring and this had a stop in it .This in effect gives a point to allow the pigtail to sit against and I then put a small blob of white paint half way down the spring to allow me to see when I had the correct position .

The real issues I had were related to the air valves on the self leveling shocks,and the small rubber washer that sits inside the plastic cap.This appears to perish and disintegrates when you remove it..(well it did in my case)and then you cannot reseal the valve.

I made a small rubber washer from a peice of thin rubber tube I found and cut it thin and fitted it inside the valve cap.This then made a perfect seal and the air is retained in the shock when the pump kicks in.

My car now sits totally level and measures 665mm from level ground through centre vertical of wheel to arch.

Jobs a good,n and a nice smooth ride again..deep joy .

[RussV6]

Just changed a spring in 12 minutes, jack up car,axle stand, remove wheel, remove bottom shock bolt, use the standard omega jack to wind down the  supension arm, put spring in. Simple.

There is no quicker, safer or easier way to do this job.

http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx189/russbusa/27022011272.jpg

As you can see from the photo the spring is loose and uncompressed and goes in easily.  put the jack in the right place and it will not slip, also there is a flat part on the arm it is not all curved.

[amba]

Fair play Russ and thanks for the picture .

I couldn,t get the jack base plate to stop moving along the arm as I tightened it up and also found the top (white plastic part of the jack)had to sit vertical to be secured on the metal ridge..yours looks like it is at an angle.

Totally understand the logic applied and the principle was sound,it is just I couldn,t get it to secure that way..only few extra bolts to drop the diff.

[RussV6]

What suits someone best is the best method to use I guess 

 That jack is for a 2003 model the earlier 1998 jack  I have has a metal end where the nylon block is on the later one. (the nylon block turned and it then gripped the seam without damage)

 I've changed more springs than I want to remember and personally find this by far the easiest