Technical Rear axle and replacing springs

[Aad Doix]

Dear Forum,

Hopefully everybody is doing great?

Got a few questions. Yesterday I found out that the rear axle has one quite new spring and one quite rusty. I was checking the state of the rear axle due to stories I read on the internet about those being quite sensitive to rust. The condition of the axle luckily, is quite good, yet a lot of flash rust (is that proper English?) so is it a good idea to treat it with a rust preventative and if yes, do you have suggestions?

Then the springs, I was taught that when replacing you better replace both, so I am looking for springs but then I found out there are different lengths. I check on license plate, year and (engine) type but still more than one length is shown, 276 millimeter to 318 millimeter. Of course I can remove the old ones (is that an easy job or does it require technical skills?) and compare, but is there a way to know which length of springs I need without removing them first? The situation is that I do not have the space to keep a car in maintenance for more than one day and ordering can sometimes take days before the items are delivered.

And when springs are replaced, does that require to replace shocks also or can those be 'seen' separately?

Thanks in advance for your replies and kind regards,

Aad

 

[koalar]

Easy yes

On axle stands, remove both upper damper bolts, it swings down and the springs come out

276 is wrong and far too short maybe for the sporty lowered 100hp they are 272

 

[Aad Doix]

@koalar thanks for the very fast reply! What do those colour of marks mean?

Kind regards,

Aad

 

[koalar]

@koalar thanks for the very fast reply! What do those colour of marks mean?

Kind regards,

Aad

On the OEM springs there dabs of paint to identify them, it just a way to not get mixed up

 

[koalar]

Rear shocks go regularly

Either misting oil

Or the top rubber mounts deteriorated

Inspect and only replace as necessary, there a 50/50 chance they are fairly new

It's important to tighten the bolt at the correct ride hight, otherwise they don't last very long

With the car on the ground and load as it normally is measure from the center of the wheel to the wheel arch

When the wheels of,f jack under the hub and raise it to math the original measurement, your then good to torque the bolt back up

 

[koalar]

Yes spring and dampers should be changed as a pair, if the difference between the is more than roughly 10,000 miles

 

[Aad Doix]

@koalar forgive me my bad English, it is not my native language, but what do you mean by:

"When the wheels of,f jack under the hub and raise it to math the original measurement, your then good to torque the bolt back up"

Thanks in advance and kind regards,

Aad

 

[koalar]

Sorry load of typos

When the wheels of,f jack under the hub and raise it to math the original measurement, your then good to torque the bolt back u

This might read better

With the wheels off
Jack under the hub and raise it to match the original wheel hub center to wheel arch measurement
Then torque the bolt back up

Or the official way

Home Page

aftersales.fiat.com

But not everyone has a torque wrench that will fit with the wheel on, might also depend on tyre rim compinations

 

[Aad Doix]

Thanks for the replies and link, these are really helpful. The The items are on order and will be delivered somewhere this week. Then of course I need to find a good day to replace. Have a dog to stay for a week and he is quite a handful

Two last questions remain:
1. Shock absorbers are fairly new, so I only replace springs now. In the manual it shows the wheel removed and says "Undo the upper bolt securing the shock absorber to the body." With almost no knowledge at all about car maintenance I think, why do I need to remove the wheel and why not undo the lower bolt securing the shock absorber? Then I think it is also possible to replace the springs? Or is there a reason it is described this way?
2. And the second question is: I read different information about aligning the rear axle / rear wheels of a Fiat Panda 169. Some say it is not necessary or even possible, but other claim it must be done after replacing springs and or shock absorbers. What is the truth?

Thanks in advance for your reaction and kind regards,

Aad

 

[koalar]

Upper bolt is normally the one in better condition and less corroded, it's a special type of bolt to help with the alignment during assembly, always start it by hand tools first, to make sure it's not cross threaded, before using a power wrench or impact gun if you have either

But it doesn't really matter which you undo

You can undo the bolt without removing the wheel but you can not remove the bolt as the wheel is in the way, even if you could access is so much better with the wheel removed and the less weight helps with aligning back up easier

Alignment is not altered when changing either springs or shocks, there's no real alignment possible at the rear,