Joe's Woes (Suspension help for noob please!)

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:24 pm

This bearing kit has just arrived, I can confirm the price £27+vat = £32.40p

KruJoe · Post by **KruJoe** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:37 pm

Thank you again guys. So this morning, I woke up thinking that if I could get a pair of kits fairly soon, I might just have a go at doing it myself (if I can win myself a few hours of daylight).
So I called at Akers&Battle in Skipdale for my £5 bottle of LHM, and they quoted me forty-summert pounds - almost £50 (maybe more with VAT) per side for the bearing kits.

On arriving home I phoned AEP to have two from them (how did you know they only had two yesterday?), and guess what? Some fecker had snaffled one of 'em! So only one left. And under £50 so I'd have to pay for delivery. I told them I'd call back next week when they'd re-stocked.

So can I find SKF kits for £30-ish delivered from Malcolm Lockwood?
I've tried a forum search and a google, but can't find contact details, could someone please drop me a pm with a phone number for him?
Ken_N: is that where you bought yours?

Thanks again!

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:09 am

A word of warning here - the advice here so far has been first class - but do be wary of cheap bearing kits from factors and Ebay (and brake pads, and electrical parts

). The spares market, like most others in the UK, is starting to feel the squeeze of market contractions, and there's serious money to be made in flogging cheap, pattern parts at just under OEM prices.

There's a lot of horrible Chinese and Indian bearings for sale at the mo - all in flash cartons, and they seem to be made of something that resembles Blu-Tack on a bad hair day! I know this because I've had these bearings fail very early on, and disassembly has shown that the bearing surfaces has simply flaked apart. Bloody annoying when you've spent a weekend installing the things....................and you've bought them from a local trade supplier you've trusted for years!!!

Stick with well-known brands that'll last. Hard to do when we're knee deep in cheap tat - but it's worth looking.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:30 am

so how do you tell genuine SKF and the likes from faike's dressed up as look alikes

regards malcolm

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:43 am

Malcolm's number is 01274 640590, I know he does deliver but that will depend where you are, you may have to pay for postage.

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:30 am

citronut wrote:so how do you tell genuine SKF and the likes from faike's dressed up as look alikes

regards malcolm

'Fraid you really need to see the part IME Malcolm.

Decent bearings will have the maker's name etched on the races - Skefko and SKF are a couple of the big names you can trust. Most Chinese junk (sic) on the other hand, doesn't have any markings. Those I avoid. Almost without exception (1) all the failed bearings I've had (mainly motorcycle) have been from EBay and have been unmarked. And suspiciously cheap. Interestingly, I bought a cambelt tensioner assembly last year from a well-know big-name factor in Bangor and, for some reason, unwrapped it in the car park for a shufti. The damned thing's bearing was rougher than the bottom of a tart's handbag - I took it back in and got a refund (I refused the kind offer of a replacement) and I got one from Citroen - twice the price but properly manufactured.

I've learned the hard way (don't I always

) and now I'll only order bearings from a reputable bearing specialist who has an incentive not to flog me crap or a main dealer (and even they've been known to sometimes order and fit pattern parts if they're feeling stingy

).

It's a sad reflection on our society but, as the going gets financially tougher, traders are resorting to ever more dodgy methods of boosting their profits, and the buyer takes all the risks. I bought 5 tubes of Solvol Autosol off Ebay a few months back to bench polish some custom motorbike parts I'd made - and when I unscrewed the caps from the tubes, the contents were a thin runny liquid that dribbled out under its own steam. Either they were counterfeit, or Solvol's watering down the product.

The thought of having a bearing fall apart at motorway speeds gives me one of them very loose All-Bran moments so I'm now very, very careful.

scarecrow · Post by **scarecrow** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:38 am

Yup - I've learnt the hard way - if you want to avoid later big bills get decent components fitted. Though if it's being sold-on after, I guess many will opt for the cheaper bits

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:03 am

You mean like so

India

scarecrow · Post by **scarecrow** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:33 pm

Varanassi was nice... apart from the dysentery and the virus and the bhang-lassi shop...

Calcutta was pretty good too, apart from the riots and the army and the bloated dead dog.

Edit: Your bearing company looks established at least http://www.skf.com/portal/skf/home

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:48 pm

So they're not just good for the odd curry house then

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 4:38 pm

Chuffing troublemaker!

Not all Indian stuff is crap. Even the Chinese can make some very nice kit when they've a mind. Some of their rifle scopes are very nice indeed. It's just that our European economic model means that it's cheaper to get tat made in those countries and shipped in than to make it here.

SKF have a reputation to protect and I'd tend to rely on that. No name = no chest to poke and no comeback if there's a problem, so no name = no buy in Bobworld.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:31 pm

ok Bob but what have you bin doing in the bottom of a tart's handbag

regards malcolm

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:44 pm

................. I could tell you - but then I'd have to take you out and shoot you.

Actually, you're lucky. My usual expression is "A Turkish Poofter's Jockstrap"

(How the hell did we get to this point from discussing a blokes dodgy rear suspension............???? This place never ceases to amaze me.

)

KruJoe · Post by **KruJoe** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:12 pm

Oi!

Back on track, you lot!

So, a better look at the pipes.

As well as the brake line, there are two LHM pipes that loop up from the back of the strut and down onto the the inner wing...

...or there should be!

Both of the pipes were fractured and separated...

...but one of them had a length missing! The whole loop over was gone.

So out with the stash of pipes'n'crap.

I found a nice little brass connector - designed for the job for one pipe...

...and a bit of motorbike fuel line or summert for the other. It's all just pushed firmly together for now; there's obviously no great pressure in these lines so I'm not too worried. The original(?) pipes fitted are clearly too 'hard' and brittle (and slipped off really easily). Where would you recommend I buy new, good quality return pipes?

So, I hope I got them the right way around! Dunno how my suspension has been working, but it has been fine.

I've never had a car that didn't need a jack before

In other news, this evening I called Malcolm Lockwood, a nice chap. We had a good chat. He'll have a pair of rear arm bearing kits in the post to me first class tomorrow, so with any luck I might have them on Saturday.
Thank you again for your help gentlemen, and yes, I did see my osf indicator had come loose. I pushed it back in and I'll have a look at securing it properly with tomorrow's daylight.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:19 pm

You should have asked Malcolm to send you the front return pipes as well.

One word of warning here though, I wouldn't block the car up under the sill as you seem to have done, the metal here is quite soft, I'd always block up under the subframe, just a bit further inboard from where your blocks are in the first pictures.