rewmer
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 2,082
- Location
- Clacton, Essex, UK
Well the old girl has had a little trouble getting it up in the mornings, so it looked as though those springs I had been keeping a wary eye on had finaly perforated. A spanking new set of Arnott Gen IIs were ordered and I set about fitting them this weekend. I started out by jacking the body as far as my trolley jack would go and then placed the standard issue bottle jack under the first back wheel. Next job, though not always neccessary was to remove the wheel arch liner. You only have a small gap to get to the top clip holding the spring in and the air line, so removing the liner gives you a little more room.This is straight forward enough, just prise out the plastic buttons and with a bang inwards to release the clips from the wheel arch its out. Now as mentioned you only have a small amount of room to play whith, so I had a root around and with a bit of luck found a redundant barbecue fork the was swiftly formed into a neat hook.
You have to reach into the gap and you should just be able to see the top clip.
Give it a good tug and it should pull out. Now if you happen to have a Faultmate or similar, deflate the spring via the menu.
Next release the airline by pushing the brass collar at the same time as pulling on the line. My ones were rotten and disintigrated as I tried to push them in on the rears so I just gave them a few taps with a screwdriver and the line came out. The fronts were OK. The bottom is fixed with the same kind of clip and access is much easier. Once both clips and pipe are removed - just remove the spring ! well thats what is supposed to happen. 9 years of crud kept a firm hold of the top mount and both back springs wouldnt let go until I wedged my crow bar inbetween the top of the spring and the body.
Putting the new one is just a reversal of the process. I got the first new rear in position and clipped in place fitted the air line and using the Faultmate gave it a splash of air to make sure it was seated OK. This proved to be fruitless as all I got was a loud hissing and no inflation. Deciding the air line was worn, I trimmed the end and after much fiddling tried again." Hissssssssssss" still no joy, so the whole thing had to come out. Inspection revealed that the two O rings that are behind the brass collet where missing on my nice new spring ! - slapped wrist Arnott. Thankfully I managed to salvage two from one of the old springs so all was not lost ( except two hours of my time ) O rings in place she filled up a treat.
The front ones are much easir to do, the hardest part was unding the screws that hold the mudflap, one side came out OK but the other had to be wrestled off and is going to need some replacement bits.
Once the liner is out you can see the two small clips that hold the top in.
Tap these off and then move down to the back of the spring at the bottom and find the 13mm bolt holding the bottom clip in place. Undo the bolt and pull out the clip. The next picture shows the clip in position -spring removed for clarity.
Again, I used the faultmate to de-presurise the spring and out she came.
Again fitting the new one is the reversal. The next couple of pictures illustrate why I changed them.....
Total time was about 4/5 hours but would have been quicker if I had spotted the missing O rings.
Another job done, looks like the exhaust is going to be next.........
You have to reach into the gap and you should just be able to see the top clip.
Give it a good tug and it should pull out. Now if you happen to have a Faultmate or similar, deflate the spring via the menu.
Putting the new one is just a reversal of the process. I got the first new rear in position and clipped in place fitted the air line and using the Faultmate gave it a splash of air to make sure it was seated OK. This proved to be fruitless as all I got was a loud hissing and no inflation. Deciding the air line was worn, I trimmed the end and after much fiddling tried again." Hissssssssssss" still no joy, so the whole thing had to come out. Inspection revealed that the two O rings that are behind the brass collet where missing on my nice new spring ! - slapped wrist Arnott. Thankfully I managed to salvage two from one of the old springs so all was not lost ( except two hours of my time ) O rings in place she filled up a treat.
The front ones are much easir to do, the hardest part was unding the screws that hold the mudflap, one side came out OK but the other had to be wrestled off and is going to need some replacement bits.
Once the liner is out you can see the two small clips that hold the top in.
Tap these off and then move down to the back of the spring at the bottom and find the 13mm bolt holding the bottom clip in place. Undo the bolt and pull out the clip. The next picture shows the clip in position -spring removed for clarity.
Again, I used the faultmate to de-presurise the spring and out she came.
Again fitting the new one is the reversal. The next couple of pictures illustrate why I changed them.....
Total time was about 4/5 hours but would have been quicker if I had spotted the missing O rings.
Another job done, looks like the exhaust is going to be next.........
