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Technical Rear Suspension Arm Replacement

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Technical Rear Suspension Arm Replacement

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Fivestiles

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Hi Guys :)
I have a Punto 75 SX Mk1 (1995) which has failed it's MoT because of a worn bush in the main suspension arm. The exact wording was,
*** Offside rear (Main Front Bush) suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement [2.4.G.3] ***.
I was told the whole arm would have to be replaced as the rubber bush is machine-pressed in :(. So could you please advise a step-by-step proceedure to remove and replace this Main Arm. I intend to attempt this myself :eek: but I need guidance on how to proceed with the nitty gritty bits :confused:. So far I have had no luck finding relavent help with this problem :bang: .
Your help (especially if with pictures), would be really appreciated :worship:
TIA, Fivestiles :D
 
due to the age of your car Fivestiles the hardest part will be shearing bolts
ive not done a mk1 for about 4 years but they are easy to do
support vehicle securly
wheel off
undo big bolt holding radious arm to chassis (these can stick in the chassis so may need some heavy hitting,keep the bolt halfway on the thread as you hit it to protect the thread
once shifting go to the hub part and here it gets interesting
im hoping your bolts like anti roll bar and back plate undo if not dont worry too much you will just need to source bolts of the same size type later on
anyway if you undo the bolts holding the stub axle on you can pull it of the radious arm and undo the clip holding the handbrake on and move everything out of the way as one lot,even the brake pipe will move out of the way so no worries with brake bleeding either
a new arm was £35 exchange complete with new bush last time i bought them (i did plenty )from a decent trade autofactor ,not a car shop
job took me an hour a side usually so can be done by you comfortably in a day so long as the big bolt comes out and you have spare bolts for the sheared ones,remember reversal is into the new arm so this wont have and sheared bolts in it so even better than trying to just rebush your arm (i never bothered)

hope that helps
as i say a while since i done them,nice cars though always liked them
 
Ziggy122 said:
So basically the Car is crabbing all over the road

I'm going assume its the Main Subframe of the rear axle onto the actual chassis of the car
If so - i'm sure they are replaceable

Ziggy
Click to expand...
Hi Ziggy122, Thanks for you reply. The crabbing you refered to was not noticable it was only the MoT mech that said it had excessive movement. Yes you might be right about it being the subframe of the rear axel. Trouble is, it looks like I'm going to have to change the whole rear axel (scrap yard job me thinks) because it looks as if they're welded together. Thanks again.
 
s and b said:
due to the age of your car Fivestiles the hardest part will be shearing bolts
ive not done a mk1 for about 4 years but they are easy to do
support vehicle securly
wheel off
undo big bolt holding radious arm to chassis (these can stick in the chassis so may need some heavy hitting,keep the bolt halfway on the thread as you hit it to protect the thread
once shifting go to the hub part and here it gets interesting
im hoping your bolts like anti roll bar and back plate undo if not dont worry too much you will just need to source bolts of the same size type later on
anyway if you undo the bolts holding the stub axle on you can pull it of the radious arm and undo the clip holding the handbrake on and move everything out of the way as one lot,even the brake pipe will move out of the way so no worries with brake bleeding either
a new arm was £35 exchange complete with new bush last time i bought them (i did plenty )from a decent trade autofactor ,not a car shop
job took me an hour a side usually so can be done by you comfortably in a day so long as the big bolt comes out and you have spare bolts for the sheared ones,remember reversal is into the new arm so this wont have and sheared bolts in it so even better than trying to just rebush your arm (i never bothered)

hope that helps
as i say a while since i done them,nice cars though always liked them
Click to expand...
Hi SandB, and thanks for your help.
The part I need to change appears to be all-one with a fixing through rubber bushes to the sub-frame one to the left & one to the right and a horizontal bolt about 3" to the left of the front bush. The good news is, I managed to get these 3 nuts undone in tact. (I didn't get as far as undoing the Shock or releasing the Coil Spring). This dropped the whole o/s of the back axel. I just can't see how to seperate this suspension arm from the axel (it appears to be welded as one with the axel tube). I don't understand the bit about removing the Hub other than if the S/Arm came detached from the axel then I would need to remove the Hub to enable me to slide it out. I beleive I would also need a spring compressor. I'm being very thick I think, because there are refs to Main Arms, Trailing Arms & Radius Arms and now I'm totally confused as to what each part looks like and what part comes off what. It is looking like the easiest way would be to try & get a whole axel complete from a scrappy then swap the lot.
I really do appreciate your help and any further thoughts and advice on this dilema would be very welcome (especially photos).
Thanks again
Fivestiles :)
 
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/smartiesx3/DSC04226.jpg

the thing that stops the arm coming down is the anti roll bar,i forgot about that as all puntos didnt have one
ideally unbolt it at both sides so you arent fighting it
undo the lower shocker bolt push the arm down and the spring will fall out nearly

as i say your biggest hurdle is getting bolt no1 out as they seize in
i used to us a long 1/2 in extension bar and as a helper held it on the nut i left halfway on i belted it with a big hammer,this way you dont risk hitting the sill if you miss
hope thats some more help?

as i say few years since i done them so brain a bit dry
 
I undo solid nut about 1/2 a turn then use a drift and thump with a 4 pound lump hammer. One or two heavy thumps are 10x better than timid taps that will just peen over the threads.
 
Thanks, this extra info will be really useful. With the photo link you included it has helped me make some sense of some of it. So it's onward and upward now as soon as I get chance to have another go.
Thanks again Guys, great job.
 
Hi WhiteSei,
Thanks for the tip. Have got the lump hammer on stand-by. That was how I got the other nuts free also. Used a deep socket and a long solid extension bar, whacked it 2 or 3 times and they came free. Can't beat a bit of brute force eh ?
Thanks again for your help ;-)
 
When you can get to the other side (usually not easy ). Its worth putting a socket (deep is best) over the bolt head and holding a sledge hammer against the socket. Use a T-Bar to hold the socket. Get a pal to hold that lot

When you thump the loosened nut with a lump hammer, the shock is absorbed by the sledge so all the force goes into the seized stuff.

Yes its brute force but its controlled and needs a big mass to absorb the shock.

Bashing the carp out of the car may be fun but it probably wont do car things very well afterwards. :)
 
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