My Lowering Saga Now Finished (Thank God)

[Hal Mercier]

I did try using a rod to jack up the strut, considered after several attempts that with my existing  damaged arms and shoulders it would be too risky to continue....specially on my own and miles from anywhere.

 

The alternative is easy IF you have all the right tools, at the moment it's taken me two hours to 'unstake the effing locking thing on the right side 30mm driveshaft nut.. I need to look at the vids again to see what you do next....is it threaded? Does it just pull off?

 

I would much prefer to pay someone to do this, I've got bored, this must be the 5th day, I can't buy tools, can't get a mechanic out here, total disaster, frankly.

Yesterday we had to drive 15km with my wife in the boot of a Kangoo, so I could collect another car from my friendly mechanic, who was hiding indoors due to someone his deputy knows just having died of the plague.

She said it was quite comfy, with two pillows and a load of thick bathtowels. What a trooper....

On the tiny country road 2km from here we were flagged down by armed, masked Polizei, my cover story was illogical by his point, though I did have the documents, so I just got away with it.

Not the ideal time to have the car on three wheels stuck outside the door.

I have just checked, of course you need to unscrew the damned locking nut cover ....which I have tried, but it's impossible as my 30mm socket is too shallow. I didn't realise quite how shallow, used my impact airwrench, and it was just skipping round with no useful result.

I'm going to have to scrounge one from someone I know who isn't shivering in a locked room somewhere.

[Hal Mercier]

On 4/6/2020 at 7:57 PM, Planemo said:

Its not impossible because I have done it.

And I didnt remove the driveshaft, ball joint or ARB.

You just need to think outside the box.

If the wishbone wont go down, the strut needs to go up.

Of course, you need to tread very carefully with whatever method you use to load up the strut.

Or, split the balljoints/remove arb/driveshafts. Its less riskier, but far more hassle imo.

I read your forum report well before starting. You did mention it was fairly er...physical, and I understood you'd had to jack up the struts using the lower spring plate, but I reckon it's pretty dangerous.

You mentioned being pumped like Arnie....I was whanging the hell out of the steering knuckle/hub carrier, felt something give in my right arm, bicep area, and yesterday evening noticed a real multicolour bruise coming through, just above the right elbow, to about half way up he bicep.It was like a rainbow, pink, red, purple, indigo blue, green and yellow....most impressive. Plus some liquid gathered under the skin....

Looked like Popeye with a giant love-bite on the bicep, only more so...

Before the bike smash last year, I could do sets of  50 pushups without breaking a sweat, so this is lack of fitness due to recuperation time doing nothing much, allied to having massively overloaded all muscles and tendons in both arms, probably torn the left side rotator cuff, during the actual collision, when the handlebars were whipped to the left, with enough force to seriously smash my left wrist while I was still on the moving bike. It had to have 3 long pins to hold it all together.

I'm waiting for an MRI to confirm the rotator cuff tear,, as it'll need another operation to fix...Of course all ops other than life or death emergencies are now on hold.

So, for a knackered accident victim, the long, less physical method is the only one short of finding someone to pay to do it for me.

1980s Fiestas were nothing like this awkward....

 

Also, whoever did that second video were in my view 'cheating', as they show the bottom of the strut only about an inch, max, lower than the socket, which I think you would agree IS impossible unless you are jacking the strut, or have removed the spring specially, or are using half a spring.....and they do not seem to be jacking the strut....maybe they removed the anti roll bar?

[Hal Mercier]

My buddy the mechanic can't come over for several days, but I have just spent a few minutes on the problem and had some success!

 

Removing the driveshaft nut is something that really needs doing with the strut in place, and before doing anything else. It can be done with the wheel on, and wedges, so the car's weight is clamping the wheel in position.

I had the wheel off, strut off, and the hub only supported by the lower balljoint and the track arm loosely done up.

I stuck an Allen key into the ventilation holes in the disc, via the caliper, to stop the hub rotating, applied lots of heat to the nut (it's tightened to 145Newts, remember,) and with the 30mm deep socket and a breaker bar, with 5' tube, finally cracked it off.

Even cracked off it's very stiff to undo. I'll finish this, crack off the balljoint, refit the strut, and do the other side tomorrow as my enthusiasm is a bit less than it needs to be...maybe not unconnected with the pains everywhere?

If I was a family pet, I'd have myself put down, I reckon. I hate to see animals suffering needlessly!

Covid19 news....my friend's contact who has just died of the plague....turns out to be 51 years old, a very fit Olympic showjumper, so not in the usual window of over 65 with pre-existing conditions.

[Hal Mercier]

Left driveshaft nut is now off....but look at the state of it!

First pic it looks ok, but turn it over....I wonder how it got into this state?

Unfortunately the hub is still attached to the wishbone as the joint splitter actually split!

[Hal Mercier]

One final word on this lowering, I realise that whoever changed the shocks on this car a year ago, apart from somehow stripping the threads on the DS nuts, actually raised the front of the car by about 10mm.

How?

When they replaced the foot of the shock in the hub carrier, they failed to notice that there is a locating tongue on the brake pipe bracket, welded to the strut. This black tongue is supposed to locate in the crack in the socket of the hub carrier. If it's not in the right position, as mine wasn't, the strut will be 10mm too high in the hub carrier.

I didn't realise this till just now on checking that first AutoDoc video....it's shown clearly at 9.43.

The tongue locates the strut rotationally so brake pipe and ABS wire are in the right position, also serving to limit the pinch on the foot of the strut.

I'll go and correct this now, and drop the front end 10mm in the process.

 

[Hal Mercier]

A word of caution to do with rebuilding the front units. This stupid story drags on....

On Sunday I had the right side strut back, in the correct position (so 40mm lower, 30mm on the spring, 10mm because the tongue was properly in the slot)

All good!

So, with my new skills, I started on the left side. Determined to avoid injury, I used the Autodoc vids as guidance....all went well, infinitely easier, so by late afternoon I was ready to put the strut, with Eibach spring, back in position.

Then disaster struck...I was at the stage of tightening the rod nut down onto the step in the piston rod. This involves tightening a 17mm nut, then locking it down to 60Nm, using a hex tip which goes in the hole in the threaded tip of the rod. Something odd happened, I don't know exactly what, but I did not hear the click from the torque wrench, operating in anti-clockwise mode, and stupidly, put too much pressure on it, resulting in a broken rod tip!

The treads had a crescent shaped crack and were a bit out of alignment....no chance of getting the nut back on. I tidied the threads with a triangular section mini file, so the thread would go on, but took a lot of effort to turn, even with copper grease.

As access to the top nut is awkward, and realising if the thing deteriorated in use, or broke, I'd need to undo the nut, difficult if the hole for the Allen key has lost 50% of it's circumference, , I did the only sensible thing, ordered another strut!

My favourite site refused to complete the transaction, so I assumed this was a lazy way of saying they were not operating, and ordered it more expensively from another site (after checking actual transport times)

So...car still out of action! No idea when the thing will arrive,optimistic  ETA is end of next week....

On checking the car's docs, I think the suspension change last Feb was in fact done by the previous owner, who stripped the DS nut and in error set the ride height to normal + 10mm.

I could almost certainly have refitted the original strut, probably it'd have been fine, but would have caused big problems if ever it had to be replaced, but I prefer to be 100% confident that all is as it should be mechanically, as i tend to push the car to the limit on windy roads....hence the lowering/widening in the first place.

Ho-hum. Patience is a virtue. ...

 

 

 

[Hal Mercier]

I've finally finished the Special Lockdown Suspension Change, and I can't say I'm not glad.

Pity I destroyed a 12 month old shocker in the process, due to brain fade at the end of a long day.

Putting the driver's side back together was so easy....specially compared to the first front I did....

All I need now for 100% peace of mind is a new driveshaft nut on the passenger side.

I am impressed with Eibach springs since years back, they are OE on most Lotus cars. It now feels perfectly ok to me, and I'm sure the handling is much improved, though I'm intending to widen the track as well....anyone have a set of 20mm spacers?

Here it is 500m from its barn, probably38mm lower at the front, and 30mm rear.

 

[Tia.f]

Hey, I’ve been looking at your Toyota Aygo mk1 that you de chromed and wanted to do it to mine. I just got some dark sparco hun caps and they look pretty cool. I now wanted to spray the badges black but wondered how you done it and what with etc? The back one is on the glass boot so that seems a bit tricky, the front I suppose I can newspaper and mask off. Thankyou! 

[Hal Mercier]

I didn't dechrome it! All chrome is as was, original.

All I did was black around the side glass & pillar, and added the red bits after painting the wheels.