Guide - Swapping Rear Arms
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:14 am
Okay. Here is my write up on swapping BX rear arms.
Important notes:
I had another set of arms refurbished and ready to go so this is only a guide to swapping arms. Not changing bearings. I would HIGHLY recommend you do this as if left too long the arms WILL wear and need bushing (as evident in the pic of my fresh arms). If yours are worn and you don't have any others ready to go then quite frankly, you're fucked.
I was in a hurry when I did this so haven't taken photo's at every step. Some of the photo's (i.e at the stage where I was removing the arm bolts) are taken on the other side of the car, but the steps are still in order. I'll also be re-using pics for the re-assembly process.
1:
Loosen the rear wheel bolts, get the car up on stands, set the hight corrector to bumps, take the rear wheels off
and jack up the rear arms one at a time to remove the pressure from the suspension.
2:
Remove the brake shields. Noting the ABS wire clipped on.
3:
unclip the brake lines from the plastic holder on the arms and undo the calipers. Tie them to the car body so they are well supported (around the door latch and also anywhere appropriate under the car). This will remove the need to undo the brake pipes from the calipers.
4:
Remove the rotors.
5:
If you have ABS, lift the rear seats and disconnect the cables. If you try to undo the sensors from the arms you are likely to destroy them after the years of corrosion seizes the bolt in there.
Feed the cables/grommets through the car body
6:
It's hard to see but undo the small holder that secures the brake line next to where it is coiled (already removed in this pic :-[).
7:
Where the suspension ram attaches to the arm, remove the pin and push the ram into the strut and out of the way.
8:
Undo the anti-roll bar shackles and remove the brake pipe holder thing under the ARB (you'll know what I mean when you see it)
9:
Undo the arm bolt
10:
Check to see if there is anything still attached/I have forgotten to put in this guide
11:
Remove the old arms
12:
Prop the arms up and feed the ABS wires through the suspension/brake pipes attached to the body
13:
Remove the old arms from the car, run the back of your arm across your forehead, crack open a bacon butty and chomp through a nice dark stout (or a french roll\cheese board and some carbonated grape juice if you're that way inclined)
14:
Wipe your hands on your trousers (or the wife's good tea-towels that you're using for rags) and get your tools ready.
15:
Get your nice, fresh arms (if you were smart about it) or otherwise I'm going to assume you are coming back to this a week later after discovering that your old arms are shagged (which if you're camber has changed, they probably are by now).
Feed them back into the car and get the bolt through (I used a bar with a tapered point to line them up.), then tighten... a lot... like get a breaker bar on it.
16:
Feed the ABS wires back through the pipes:
17:
Put the brake pipe holder thing back under the ARB and put the shackles back. Make sure the bolts go through both holes in the holder thing. I had to re-do them both on mine as I'd only got one bolt through each without noticing. If this happens you'll see that your brake pipes will rub when the arm goes up and down.
18: Put the little peice back that secures the brake line to the holder:
19:
Attach the suspension rams back to the arms:
20:
Put the rotors back on
21:
Put the calipers back on:
21:
Put the shields back on (attaching the ABS wire)
22:
Put the brake pipes back into the plastic holders on the arms
23:
Feed the ABS cables back into the car and connect up again:
24:
Move the arms up and down and check no wires are caught and nothing is rubbing.
Put the wheels back on
25:
Check absolutely everything
26:
start the car, set the hight corrector to high, get the car off the stands and tighten the wheel nuts.
27:
Have a bevvy or 14 (after driving home, not before, unless it coke, in which case have fun at the dentist)
Important notes:
I had another set of arms refurbished and ready to go so this is only a guide to swapping arms. Not changing bearings. I would HIGHLY recommend you do this as if left too long the arms WILL wear and need bushing (as evident in the pic of my fresh arms). If yours are worn and you don't have any others ready to go then quite frankly, you're fucked.
I was in a hurry when I did this so haven't taken photo's at every step. Some of the photo's (i.e at the stage where I was removing the arm bolts) are taken on the other side of the car, but the steps are still in order. I'll also be re-using pics for the re-assembly process.
1:
Loosen the rear wheel bolts, get the car up on stands, set the hight corrector to bumps, take the rear wheels off
and jack up the rear arms one at a time to remove the pressure from the suspension.
2:
Remove the brake shields. Noting the ABS wire clipped on.
3:
unclip the brake lines from the plastic holder on the arms and undo the calipers. Tie them to the car body so they are well supported (around the door latch and also anywhere appropriate under the car). This will remove the need to undo the brake pipes from the calipers.
4:
Remove the rotors.
5:
If you have ABS, lift the rear seats and disconnect the cables. If you try to undo the sensors from the arms you are likely to destroy them after the years of corrosion seizes the bolt in there.
Feed the cables/grommets through the car body
6:
It's hard to see but undo the small holder that secures the brake line next to where it is coiled (already removed in this pic :-[).
7:
Where the suspension ram attaches to the arm, remove the pin and push the ram into the strut and out of the way.
8:
Undo the anti-roll bar shackles and remove the brake pipe holder thing under the ARB (you'll know what I mean when you see it)
9:
Undo the arm bolt
10:
Check to see if there is anything still attached/I have forgotten to put in this guide
11:
Remove the old arms
12:
Prop the arms up and feed the ABS wires through the suspension/brake pipes attached to the body
13:
Remove the old arms from the car, run the back of your arm across your forehead, crack open a bacon butty and chomp through a nice dark stout (or a french roll\cheese board and some carbonated grape juice if you're that way inclined)
14:
Wipe your hands on your trousers (or the wife's good tea-towels that you're using for rags) and get your tools ready.
15:
Get your nice, fresh arms (if you were smart about it) or otherwise I'm going to assume you are coming back to this a week later after discovering that your old arms are shagged (which if you're camber has changed, they probably are by now).
Feed them back into the car and get the bolt through (I used a bar with a tapered point to line them up.), then tighten... a lot... like get a breaker bar on it.
16:
Feed the ABS wires back through the pipes:
17:
Put the brake pipe holder thing back under the ARB and put the shackles back. Make sure the bolts go through both holes in the holder thing. I had to re-do them both on mine as I'd only got one bolt through each without noticing. If this happens you'll see that your brake pipes will rub when the arm goes up and down.
18: Put the little peice back that secures the brake line to the holder:
19:
Attach the suspension rams back to the arms:
20:
Put the rotors back on
21:
Put the calipers back on:
21:
Put the shields back on (attaching the ABS wire)
22:
Put the brake pipes back into the plastic holders on the arms
23:
Feed the ABS cables back into the car and connect up again:
24:
Move the arms up and down and check no wires are caught and nothing is rubbing.
Put the wheels back on
25:
Check absolutely everything
26:
start the car, set the hight corrector to high, get the car off the stands and tighten the wheel nuts.
27:
Have a bevvy or 14 (after driving home, not before, unless it coke, in which case have fun at the dentist)