Advise about DIY maintenance for wishbone/ARB bushes and CAM belt

[RossIBIZATDI]

I carried out this operation at the weekend, with the assistance of my brother, and found it quite difficult.
the Hex end of the wishbone does not slide in quite as easily as described in the guide.

the wishbone can't be aligned properly until the hex end is through the Bush far enough to get the front bush into the final fitting position.
we persevered and with plenty of lubrication, the strap and assistance of a mallet and some , the wishbones eventually made it to the correct position.

The hammers I've been using is not very big, do you think a large lump hammer would be better? My car's been sat on my drive now since bloody Wednesday and I'm having to get lifts to work off my g/f!

I've tried the ratchet method on both sides, put loads of grease and tried washing up liquid on and it just won't go in. It gets to within about quarter of an inch until it reaches the end of the bush but won't go any further, have snapped the strap on the ratchet a few times and had to re-tie it to the metal!

Also, and this is stupid but I thought I might of been able to remove the cross member out the way to get it aligned better and undid the 5 (i think) bolts and removed them but when the last one came out, what ever was on the top of the bolts moved and the holes are out of line now! It's just going from bad to worse! Does anyone know what is behind it? To be honest, when I did that I just threw all my tools in the garage and went to the pub coz it was getting dark but going to have to get this sorted by tomorrow because that's when my MOT re-test is.

Someone please give me some hope!

PS - How accurate does the hex have to be aligned as in horizontal top and bottom when pressing the bush in the console? As obviously I was under the car and doing it by just using my eye's. It's pretty much straight but how perfect does this have to be? Just a thought. Will they evenentually twist into the correct position whilst driving or is this why you have to get the geometry done?

Thanks again.

 

[Altech]

I removed the bush consoles from the car when I change my wishbone bushes. It was much easier then to drive the hex part of the wishbone into the bush with a big mallet. The bush also needs to be sitting inside the console the right way round. Iirc there are little rubber tabs to line it up with the console.

It sounds to me as if you have removed the 4 long bolts that secure that the steering rack to the subframe. If so, you should be able to re-align it quite easily.

 

[JR_130]

The hammers I've been using is not very big, do you think a large lump hammer would be better? My car's been sat on my drive now since bloody Wednesday and I'm having to get lifts to work off my g/f!

I've tried the ratchet method on both sides, put loads of grease and tried washing up liquid on and it just won't go in. It gets to within about quarter of an inch until it reaches the end of the bush but won't go any further, have snapped the strap on the ratchet a few times and had to re-tie it to the metal!

Also, and this is stupid but I thought I might of been able to remove the cross member out the way to get it aligned better and undid the 5 (i think) bolts and removed them but when the last one came out, what ever was on the top of the bolts moved and the holes are out of line now! It's just going from bad to worse! Does anyone know what is behind it? To be honest, when I did that I just threw all my tools in the garage and went to the pub coz it was getting dark but going to have to get this sorted by tomorrow because that's when my MOT re-test is.

Someone please give me some hope!

PS - How accurate does the hex have to be aligned as in horizontal top and bottom when pressing the bush in the console? As obviously I was under the car and doing it by just using my eye's. It's pretty much straight but how perfect does this have to be? Just a thought. Will they evenentually twist into the correct position whilst driving or is this why you have to get the geometry done?

Thanks again.

I used a Heavy duty rubber Mallet.
I also used heavy duty ratchet strap and was putting my full might into tightening it (i had initially tried using a small / cheap one which almost broke straight away, so brought the big ones out)

Before putting the Bush in i used a square and a permanent marker (CD pen) to mark where the corner(s) of the hex were along the side of the bush so i could line it up easier.

Don't know about what the cross member bolts onto.

hope this helps, good luck!

 

[RossIBIZATDI]

I removed the bush consoles from the car when I change my wishbone bushes. It was much easier then to drive the hex part of the wishbone into the bush with a big mallet. The bush also needs to be sitting inside the console the right way round. Iirc there are little rubber tabs to line it up with the console.

It sounds to me as if you have removed the 4 long bolts that secure that the steering rack to the subframe. If so, you should be able to re-align it quite easily.

How easy is it to remove the bush consoles? Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Altech]

Just a few bolts from the underside of the subframe....make the whole process a lot easier.

 

[RossIBIZATDI]

Well I am much more hopefull now. Undid several bolts and the whole crossmember and attaching bits with the console things on came off. Wishbones were in within a matter of minutes and it's ready to go back on. Had to go out for a meal for my dad's birthday so couldn't finish there and then which was annoyin. So got til 12 tomorrow to get everything attached and the new pads on. Can't believe I was tryin for ages with the ratchet when this is so much easier! Thanks for the advise people. Definitely take the whole thing off though. I can sleep ok tonight. Also got my dp to put on but the turbo doesn't seem very easy to get at. Have tried to spray the bolts with wd-40 whilst i was under there but can't see it being easy to get the bolts off and the new one on!! Think I'll do that after it has it's mot!

 

[RossIBIZATDI]

Job done. Mot passed. Was actually at 11. Just gonna take all the bolts out one by one and put some locktite on em. Then might have a go at fitting the new decat downpipe. Although Seat have ordered me the wrong part, shock! Muppets! Will just use the old gasket and put some exhaust paste on it.

 

[RUM4MO]

I hope that you are now going to get a full four wheel re-alignment done so that you can feel the full benefit of your hard work (and save wrecking your tyres!).

 

[RossIBIZATDI]

Of course! Just need to find a good reputable place to do it in the north west. Any ideas?