front suspension wishbone arms / eurocarparts

themildbunch · Post by **themildbunch** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:46 pm

Hi

I'd like to change the front arms on my TZD - the bushes are pretty shot and you can hear the clanks over larger bumps...

Eurocarparts are offering reconditioned arms for £27.50 each.. looks much easier than removing and pressing in new bushes...

Anyone had any experience of these parts?

Part number are: 616545170 and 180 for each side...

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:53 pm

I've bought them, but not yet fitted them...

My experience of non OE rubber components is that their lifespan can be poor, but at this price and ease of fitment you can't really complain. My plan is to fit them, and in the meantime obtain some OE bushes to fit to the original arms, so that if they don't last long I've got a set on the shelf.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:44 pm

i bought a pair of front arms for acustomers VOLVO V70 they didnt even last a year,

regards malcolm

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 6:24 pm

If they were so shot that they were clanking I would say that you would have other issues like quite noticable wander in the steering etc. The clanking's perhaps coming from the droplinks?

I changed mine myself by following Jon's guide ( which should perhaps be cut out from where it's buried in his blog and made sticky?) Burning the old one's out is the way to go, if a bit unenvironmentally friendly and just make sure when the new one's are going in that they are well lubed and pressure is equal as they're pressed home. It's still quite a bit of work but the second one goes quicker!

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:12 pm

i usualy do these by driftting the lip of the mushroom bush upwards and away from the arm surface,

then with a metal tube long enough for the old bush to fit inside, a length of threaded bar, two nuts to fit the thread, an old socket just small enough to pass through the eye in the arm, and two heavy washers,

spin a nut on one endof the rod, feed the rod through the socket then through the old bush in the arm, place the tube, washer the rod at the other side of the arm/bush, wind the other nut on till it pulls the old bush out of the arm and into the tube,

refitting is the opposite but without driftting the mushroom lip,

then you can use the same tool to pull out and re/fit the straight bush,

best remove and re/fit one bush at a time so you dont forget which bush goes which end,

regards malcolm

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:28 pm

I do them as per the Citroen workshop manual (which is pretty much as CitroNut describes), i've never been very successful with the set em on fire method, it ended up just making a horrible mess.

I reccomend 14mm threaded bar, 10mm doesn't tend to last long!

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:41 pm

My BX had one of these arms put on it. Must have done a good few thousand miles with it and as far as I'm aware, it's still going fine. Entire arm is cheaper than the bushes on their own, which admittedly might tell you what sort of quality the bushes are...

Discoil · Post by **Discoil** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 9:43 pm

I go and use a friends hydraulic press and the Citroen special toolkit.

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 11:13 pm

But the citroen special tool kit winds them out, rather than presses them out, thats what my manual says anyway.