Episode 24: Finding Some Bounce
Always happy to help Paul.
For a while now I've had a feeling something is not quite right with the front suspension. It has always seemed to be pretty stiff even with rebuilt spheres but I've nothing to really compare it to. The weird part is that the drivers side felt stiffer than the passenger. Asking the question on the main Citroen forum threw up some interesting ideas. Swapping spheres from sided to side produced the same result so the next place to look was the dampers. At least one diaphragm let go in the fire so it was possible that the dampers were full of debris. Step one is to remove them from the spheres
They looked fine but theres more to them
Surprisingly they were perfectly clean.I originally had to build them up from a tub of parts as the spheres I managed to source were missing the dampers. Feeler gauges came out to check the shim thicknesses which confirmed all was well there so they were put back together and screwed into the spheres.
Figuring there was nothing to lose, I set my sights on the anti-roll bar linkages on the drivers side. Technically the whole wishbone assembly should come off but I'm trying to avoid that. Winding down the threaded sleeve was easy enough and allowed the wishbones to move freely without fighting the anti-roll bar. Note also that the suspension cylinder pushrod is disconnected.
The wishbone bearings are a bit stiff at the extremes of movement but are nice and smooth between those two points. The ball joints were very stiff and hard to rotate. At the very least new grease is needed but i went one further and took them apart to clean out all the old grease. This means ongoing the threaded collar that retains a spring.
Some new grease and things are moving nicely now. I am curious if the trick of filling the wishbone bearing housings with gearbox oil is worth doing.
Foolishly I didn't measure the overall length of the anti-roll bar linkage and the manual is rather vague when it comes to the drives side. If anyone knows what it should be give me a shout
Always happy to help Paul.
For a while now I've had a feeling something is not quite right with the front suspension. It has always seemed to be pretty stiff even with rebuilt spheres but I've nothing to really compare it to. The weird part is that the drivers side felt stiffer than the passenger. Asking the question on the main Citroen forum threw up some interesting ideas. Swapping spheres from sided to side produced the same result so the next place to look was the dampers. At least one diaphragm let go in the fire so it was possible that the dampers were full of debris. Step one is to remove them from the spheres
Figuring there was nothing to lose, I set my sights on the anti-roll bar linkages on the drivers side. Technically the whole wishbone assembly should come off but I'm trying to avoid that. Winding down the threaded sleeve was easy enough and allowed the wishbones to move freely without fighting the anti-roll bar. Note also that the suspension cylinder pushrod is disconnected.
Some new grease and things are moving nicely now. I am curious if the trick of filling the wishbone bearing housings with gearbox oil is worth doing.
Foolishly I didn't measure the overall length of the anti-roll bar linkage and the manual is rather vague when it comes to the drives side. If anyone knows what it should be give me a shout
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