Rear arm bearings

Tourist · Post by **Tourist** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:08 pm

Sorry to keep asking questions but can I get a quote for replacing the rear arm bearings? How much are they to buy? I have absolutely no idea.

I won't even think about doing this myself as it's too bigger job.

My local garage charge £30 an hour, I may be able to get it done for £20.

How much am I looking at here, if I were to get 2 new arm bearings at the back?

TIA.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:10 pm

You are looking at £85-105 plus each side to get them done by a small independant.

Tourist · Post by **Tourist** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:12 pm

Ouch.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:18 pm

Kits are about £40 a side I think.

Frankly I let someone else do them... but that's a matter of choice (and lighter wallet

)

Tourist · Post by **Tourist** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:27 pm

If some more-experienced BX owners don't carry this out themselves then I definitely won't, I think this can wait I just wanted to get some idea of cost.

Thanks Phil (or do you prefer to be called Philip)

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:54 pm

Tourist wrote:Ouch.

Not really.

If you take any car to any garage to have any job done, it's going to be at least £100.

At least you're not into moderns... a friend of mine recently spent £1200 in one go on his wife's Audi A4 - a service and something piddly and silly like a brake master cylinder, IIRC. The garage wanted to change the brake discs too but he managed to persuade them to stop.

He can afford to run the car, so good luck to him. If you can't afford garage rates, you need to learn to do things yourself (or have willing friends!)

RichardW · Post by **RichardW** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:34 pm

Colleague here has got his Mazda in for a service today. £140 for an oil change, thanks very much

My mate broke a BMW 540i for its engine - it had done about 140k and had a FULL service history, ie the one where you have the all the bills. Some of the costs were staggering - eg it had a powered braking system, common with the PAS (see, it's not just Citroen!) - it had had a new master cylinder, and the cost was well over £1k. There was a bill for rebuilding the engine too (new block due to the Nikasil liner issue) - ISTR it was approaching £1k - and that was just for the SUNDRIES, BMW having paid for the block and labour.

DIY servicing / repairs saves a huge amount of money.....

Aerodynamica · Post by **Aerodynamica** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:17 pm

Of the heavier DIY jobs, trailing arm bearings are not that bad. I don't know where folks are getting the prices of kits from but I replaced all 4 bearing sets on my CX (same parts as BX) for about £30. From Euro car parts.

It's because I only replaced the actual bearings and their tracks - other parts such as the thrust washers, 24mm nut+bolt and the support tube can all be re used. No need to even replace the 2 rubber seals as the new ones will not really do a massively better job at keeping the water out. A little hole drilled mid - way on the arm top of the bearings' housing to fill with light oil every 6 months ftw.

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:53 am

like you tourist, i bought my car blind and it hasn't turned out to be all that bad and has done me 13000 miles since, but i did have to get the rear arm bearings done at a wedge of a sum by Louis Barbour just outside of London straight after i bought it, ... he did console me with the "it looks like its been really well looked after" so i came away with confidence.. but then all BXs need a bit of attention now and then so i've been up to a few DIY jobs myself, they're quite easy to work on but its been a steep learning curve for me. After a year and a half of thinking "is it worth it" i absolutely love the car and better the devil you know and all that i'm hapy i've stuck with it.

RxBX · Post by **RxBX** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:14 pm

I've overhauled three BX's rear radius arm's (both sides) and I never want to repair another ever again,check out link below and you will understand why !

http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~ynar/bxorg_a ... /m07e.html

Best of luck/patience to those that do !

cauchoiskev · Post by **cauchoiskev** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:37 pm

£100 a side is a very good price for this job... if it's done correctly.

Normally, it should be an easy job, an afternoon for both sides, but... what if the arm has been damaged by the disintegrated bearings ? (very common : have some joint compound on hand to seal the gap). What if some plonker has put a damaged plastic tube back in the arm and you didn't buy a kit ? (been there). What if the aforesaid plonker has "forgotten" the adjusting shim ? (been there too). What if the arm is so far gone that the thrust bush is damaged as well ? (yep, been there as well).

WD40 on the relevant areas a day before the job! I would also advise putting grease nipples on if you don't want to be doing this job again.

Then you'll pass the weekend on it.

Tourist · Post by **Tourist** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:03 pm

I definitely won't be doing this myself, might get it done at a garage but most likely I'll have to wait until I have the money to get it done properly.