Technical Rattling rear suspension

Currently reading:
Technical Rattling rear suspension

Joined
Jul 14, 2020
Messages
370
Points
214
Location
Wiltshire
Hello everybody. As you may know I removed and restored my rear axle over the winter and all was seeming to have gone well.

A few weeks agao I put in a new catalytic converter and because the tail pipe for it was a touch short I had to pull the exhaust forward slightly to avoid ti blowing out of a small cut in the exhaust pipe. After this I started noticing an annoying rattle when going over bumps at low speed. Convinced it must be the exhaust I've spent the last week messing around with the exhaust, renewing the rubber hangers and shifting it around. None of which made any improvement. In desperation I took all of the exhaust rear of the cat off and drove it over my simulated pot holed road (a few paving slabs spread randomly over the drive). Sure enough the annoying rattle remained so my time spent with the exhaust was completely wasted.

Tonight I've taken the spring and shock off the side that I think the noise is coming from and the arms seems to move up and down without any noise. I'm beginning to suspect that the shocks are to blame. I bought some Ridex ones from Autodoc and one thing I notice is that the eye piece isn't as wide as the old ones I had as the pictures below make clear. It means that the shock isn't snugly held in place and it just doesn't look right

A lot of this is new to me as I'm learning as I go. Is it possible that these shocks aren't really compatible with the B? I can't turn the bolts in any further so they can move side to side on the bolt which I don't like. I wish I hadn't thrown the old ones away as at least I could have tried those to see if they made the noise go away. The eye piece on my new shocks are about 25m wide, is that similar to other peoples or are they fatter like my olds ones?

All and any thoughts welcome. Thanks, Chris

Old:
1655575344094.png


New:
1655575285400.png
 
I checked the width of the lower mounting ring of the rear shocks, and it's 29.3mm wide.
No idea if this shock is original or not, but it looks the same as you first picture (except the rust : )
 
No it doesn't look right, the rubber on the inside looks pulled over
and the bolt is sitting proud, could the eye in the shock be to small
for the bolt? or the bolt have a ridge stopping it from going fare
enough into the eye.
 
The metal sleeve that the mounting bolt passes through on my shocks is 38mm wide. My B is a 97 model. Looks like you have the wrong shocks. Shouldn't rattle though if the bolt is tight.
 
Thank you all.

I've just measured the gap between the bolt washer and the arm and it's about 38mm which stacks up with what @Davefridge has on his. I'm of the conclusion that what Autodoc/Ridex list (or sent to me) as a B shock isn't. I don't like there being excess bolt (it feels like it would more easily snap if it isn't snug against the arm) so I either need to get some shorter bolts or some new shocks. Sigh.

The rattling has gone away after I rotated the spring around as it didn't look like it was sitting right. Not sure why that was making it rattle but it is a lot better now.
 
Back
Top