Front strut removal?
- Thread starter Sam18
- Start date
Just noticed no-one has replied to you yet. Hope this advert will answer your question:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/2544754098..._6JdEvYdKPQiVF7-K3_2GqHOiAlk5LohoCdxsQAvD_BwE
Looks all very conventional doesn't it?
Sorry if this sounds patronizing but don't then - after having removed from the vehicle - then undo the damper rod top nut without first containing the main spring with a set of spring compressors will you? I'd like you to be able to tell us, later on, how the job went.
You will need a 12 point socket big enough to remove the drive shaft nut when working on the nearside strut, obviously a couple of differing designs of spring compressors to safely get to grips with these tapered springs, a large spine bit to help remove the clamping bolt, a special bit to safely expand the hub carrier to release and fit the new strut, and maybe a "drive through" socket to hold the strut top nut while you pass a hex/tx/spine bit through to slacken and tighten the strut - the original strut is probably either hex or spline, I've forgotten.
Another bit of advice would be to replace the top bearing and maybe even the top mounting rubber. All very doable just takes time.
Another bit of advice would be to replace the top bearing and maybe even the top mounting rubber. All very doable just takes time.
Just another hopefully relevant comment/suggestion:- have a look on the Ibiza MK4 section, and on the Polo 9N section of Polo forums or better the early version of Skoda Fabia on www.briskoda.net as I and probably others have listed all the extra tools needed for that job - all tools and sizes are the same on your Ibiza as on these earlier cars, it is just some details of the strut assembly that have changed along with the top mounting.
Hello again Sam.
Lots of great info for you from RUM there. It might interest you if I tell you that we found we could get the strut out of my boy's Ibiza without dismantling the hub. It was a few years ago so forgive me if I forget the finer details. We left the top mount in place and removed the pinch bolt at the bottom of the strut. It's nut came off easily enough but the bolt itself was a b****r being rusted in place. Took half a tin of Plus Gas and some determined "persuading" with a power bar and my "rattle" gun. Once it was out I used a large screwdriver to wedge the hub open and levered the bottom arm down with a very big pry bar (actually an old Morris Marina half shaft) whilst hitting the hub with a lump hammer. There was a bit of obstructive corrosion making the bottom of the strut hang up but it eventually surrendered to the hammering (wooden block used to avoid hammer damage to hub).
Then the top mount bolts were removed without drama and the strut withdrawn under the wing. (anti roll bar link and brake pipe/sensor wire disconnected too) but I remember then having trouble undoing the top damper rod nut (after compressing the spring). Couldn't hold the damper rod with an Allen key but as the strut was being scrapped I just held the rod itself with a big pair of locking pliers (which damages the damper rod but that doesn't matter as the strut was being chucked).
So I suppose I'm saying there's more than one way to do this. On the face of it it all sounds quite easy and simple, and on a nearly new vehicle it probably is, but get a few years down the line and add in the effects of a few years worth of winter salt etc and it all gets a bit more exciting!
Last year I did a complete front suspension overhaul on our 2010 Fiat Panda after the N/S strut decided to empty itself of fluid all in one go - catastrophic seal failure, sprayed the oil all over the inside of the wing and dripped off all over my driveway! Much the same job as our Ibizas to do except the bottom of the strut is fixed to the hub with 2 long bolts (like my old 1999 Cordoba vario). The top mount is like our newer ones where just one nut on the damper rod acts on a retaining plate to hold the strut into it's top mount. Couldn't get either side to undo using a hollow socket and Allen key - actually bent the Allen key but still wouldn't undo with a socket type hex key holding it. Reverted to my big "Rattle" gun which obviously just terrified it so much it gave in! The two bottom bolts were very reluctant to come out. Despite copious quantities of Plus Gas one bolt on either side snapped and both bolts had to be driven out as they were severely corroded. This wasn't a problem as I'd already decided to replace these critical fixings and had bought new ones. However what should have been a half day's work (maybe a day if I wasn't pushing myself) turned into a full two day job.
Finally I notice that my new Ibiza now has tapered springs so my old spring compressors are probably not going to work too well on them. Something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universa...709175?hash=item2a88615f37:g:FtgAAOSwsB9V~mde
The wee black block allows one of the pans to be lateraly displaced to accomodate a tapered spring.
Lots of great info for you from RUM there. It might interest you if I tell you that we found we could get the strut out of my boy's Ibiza without dismantling the hub. It was a few years ago so forgive me if I forget the finer details. We left the top mount in place and removed the pinch bolt at the bottom of the strut. It's nut came off easily enough but the bolt itself was a b****r being rusted in place. Took half a tin of Plus Gas and some determined "persuading" with a power bar and my "rattle" gun. Once it was out I used a large screwdriver to wedge the hub open and levered the bottom arm down with a very big pry bar (actually an old Morris Marina half shaft) whilst hitting the hub with a lump hammer. There was a bit of obstructive corrosion making the bottom of the strut hang up but it eventually surrendered to the hammering (wooden block used to avoid hammer damage to hub).
Then the top mount bolts were removed without drama and the strut withdrawn under the wing. (anti roll bar link and brake pipe/sensor wire disconnected too) but I remember then having trouble undoing the top damper rod nut (after compressing the spring). Couldn't hold the damper rod with an Allen key but as the strut was being scrapped I just held the rod itself with a big pair of locking pliers (which damages the damper rod but that doesn't matter as the strut was being chucked).
So I suppose I'm saying there's more than one way to do this. On the face of it it all sounds quite easy and simple, and on a nearly new vehicle it probably is, but get a few years down the line and add in the effects of a few years worth of winter salt etc and it all gets a bit more exciting!
Last year I did a complete front suspension overhaul on our 2010 Fiat Panda after the N/S strut decided to empty itself of fluid all in one go - catastrophic seal failure, sprayed the oil all over the inside of the wing and dripped off all over my driveway! Much the same job as our Ibizas to do except the bottom of the strut is fixed to the hub with 2 long bolts (like my old 1999 Cordoba vario). The top mount is like our newer ones where just one nut on the damper rod acts on a retaining plate to hold the strut into it's top mount. Couldn't get either side to undo using a hollow socket and Allen key - actually bent the Allen key but still wouldn't undo with a socket type hex key holding it. Reverted to my big "Rattle" gun which obviously just terrified it so much it gave in! The two bottom bolts were very reluctant to come out. Despite copious quantities of Plus Gas one bolt on either side snapped and both bolts had to be driven out as they were severely corroded. This wasn't a problem as I'd already decided to replace these critical fixings and had bought new ones. However what should have been a half day's work (maybe a day if I wasn't pushing myself) turned into a full two day job.
Finally I notice that my new Ibiza now has tapered springs so my old spring compressors are probably not going to work too well on them. Something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universa...709175?hash=item2a88615f37:g:FtgAAOSwsB9V~mde
The wee black block allows one of the pans to be lateraly displaced to accomodate a tapered spring.
One thing about that, the off side strut can easily be taken out without having to remove the drive shaft, o the near side, the drive shaft fouls the lower wishbone very quickly as that is the side with the shorter drive shaft, so the drive shaft needs to get removed from the hub carrier - unless that car had/has very shortened road springs.
Probably my memory failing me RUM. It was a Mk1 Fabia (I mistakenly said Ibiza - sorry, blame senility again!) That was the model with the big spongy voided rear bushes on the rear of the front arms - they were "fun" to do as well - and it was quite a few years ago - he's had a Fabia Scout and now has a Kia Rio and Punto since then. I do vividly remember putting a length of scaffold pole over the end of the old Marina (Morris) half shaft to get the leverage required to depress that bottom arm. I don't remember pulling the hub off the CV so I think we managed it without?
Oh yes, doesn't look like I'm as senile as I thought! I just came across this which would seem to support my tale?
Yup, seeing is believing, but I'd always buy a new hub nut before hand just in case the LHS drive shaft needs to be removed to get the strut out. I've done 2, a 2002 VW Polo 1.4 and a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza SC 1.4 and both needed me to take the LHS drive shaft out of the hub carrier - or, wait a minute a slight correction, maybe it was the RHS drive shaft that needed removing - I think that makes more sense as the first side I worked on on the 2002 Polo was the RHS as that side's spring had broken at half height, and after changing that, doing the other side was a walk in the park as the drive shaft did not need removing - sorry for the confusion.
In that Fabia guide, I'd think that it was the small top section of spring that broke off and the top mounting bearing fell down, not the other way round.
To the OP, that guide all applies to your car except the top mounting is a different design, I always start to slacken off the top (piston) nut a single turn before removing the strut and carry out the final tightening once the new one is back on the car.
In that Fabia guide, I'd think that it was the small top section of spring that broke off and the top mounting bearing fell down, not the other way round.
To the OP, that guide all applies to your car except the top mounting is a different design, I always start to slacken off the top (piston) nut a single turn before removing the strut and carry out the final tightening once the new one is back on the car.
I suppose, in the event, you do what you have to do to sort things out. If the nut needs undone , you undo it! Doesn't detract from the pleasure derived from having these slightly esoteric conversations and the increase to the knowledge base of simpletons like me.
Kindest regards to you RUM. I always enjoy what you have to say. Thanks
Kindest regards to you RUM. I always enjoy what you have to say. Thanks
Just one thing, meant as a "plus" is, when I first needed to do that job on a 2002 VW Polo back in probably New Year 2008 - never the best time of year to suddenly need to work on the underside of a car, it was my first time to be working as a DIYer on a VW Group product.
Prior to this event, I considered that VW cars were all up to expectation in terms of quality and reliable - after that experience I rethought things and my revised way of thinking was that my 2000 VW Passat 4Motion was not a good car because it was a VW product, but because it was basically an older Audi A4 B5 with new clothes but a proper Audi engine and Audi quattro 4 wheel drive system. The 2002 Polo, was a bad car not because it was a VW product but because it was a Skoda Fabia with clothes - so it retained all the known modern days Skoda issues like "shocking" quality of steel/metals used on the common running gear, possibly supplied by Cadbury - every bolt and nut needing removed was a proper fight/battle/sawing/grinding - which coming from owning Fords and a single VX Cav GSI was really a shock! Thankfully VW Group seemed to have a rethink on some bolt/stud sizes nd other parts and taking the late 2009 Ibiza front suspension apart in 2017(maybe) really was a walk in the park, not just because I now had all the necessary tools that made that job easier, but because everything came apart easily.
It did help that that late 2009 Ibiza broke its front spring in late spring/early summer and that it was a 3rd car for us at that time - so not a rush job in any way.
The other thing that makes me think that it is the RHS that needs the drive shaft removed is that that 2002 Polo, much later in its life, suffered seized up top mounting on the LHS so I had to revisit that area when it was possibly 11 or 12 years old - another reason for VW Group to bin using that design of top suspension bearing.
Just one thing, @Sam18, why are you removing that strut, if you have not said already? Just in case you need some extra advice on maybe extra or not yet considered other parts to replace while it is off the car - suspension bearing being one.
Prior to this event, I considered that VW cars were all up to expectation in terms of quality and reliable - after that experience I rethought things and my revised way of thinking was that my 2000 VW Passat 4Motion was not a good car because it was a VW product, but because it was basically an older Audi A4 B5 with new clothes but a proper Audi engine and Audi quattro 4 wheel drive system. The 2002 Polo, was a bad car not because it was a VW product but because it was a Skoda Fabia with clothes - so it retained all the known modern days Skoda issues like "shocking" quality of steel/metals used on the common running gear, possibly supplied by Cadbury - every bolt and nut needing removed was a proper fight/battle/sawing/grinding - which coming from owning Fords and a single VX Cav GSI was really a shock! Thankfully VW Group seemed to have a rethink on some bolt/stud sizes nd other parts and taking the late 2009 Ibiza front suspension apart in 2017(maybe) really was a walk in the park, not just because I now had all the necessary tools that made that job easier, but because everything came apart easily.
It did help that that late 2009 Ibiza broke its front spring in late spring/early summer and that it was a 3rd car for us at that time - so not a rush job in any way.
The other thing that makes me think that it is the RHS that needs the drive shaft removed is that that 2002 Polo, much later in its life, suffered seized up top mounting on the LHS so I had to revisit that area when it was possibly 11 or 12 years old - another reason for VW Group to bin using that design of top suspension bearing.
Just one thing, @Sam18, why are you removing that strut, if you have not said already? Just in case you need some extra advice on maybe extra or not yet considered other parts to replace while it is off the car - suspension bearing being one.
Tool to safely open up the hub carrier is Laser Tools 3396, size of spline (XZN) bit for hub carrier clamping bolt head is M14.
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