Replace 350i UJ's in situ ?

[ScumbagAdie]

Is it possible to replace the outer rear UJ's in situ without having to undo that bl**dy big nut?

If it does need to be undone whats the best way of doing it and are there any other tricks of the trade?

[Number 7]

ScumbagAdie said:

Is it possible to replace the outer rear UJ's in situ without having to undo that bl**dy big nut? If it does need to be undone whats the best way of doing it and are there any other tricks of the trade?

Never tried it in situ, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it. You'll need a 1 1/2" AF socket (preferably 3/4" drive) to fit the nut. The torque figure is in the Bible, but IIRC its 230ft lbs, so you'll need access to a decent torque wrench. The threads on both sides are conventional clockwise. The diff flange nuts can be a little tricky, you need to move the driveshaft around for each nut to get enough clearance around the inner yoke to fit a socket, whilst applying the handbrake to prevent the whole lot moving. Disconnect the tie bar from the hub carrier, slacken the nuts/bolts connecting the wishbone to both sides of the hub carrier. This will allow the hub to swing down as you remove the driveshaft. I personally always renew both inner and outer uj's at the same time, as they're fairly cheap. You should also renew the large nut, although they're not cheap. Some people (me included) also drill and pin the nuts.

Good luck.

7.

[shpub]

You can drop the whole drive shaft/hub/carrier out, change the UJs and then put it back. That way the whole hub etc stays on the drive shaft. Bit more akward but does save having to take the big nut off. Done it both ways and they take about the same time.

[ScumbagAdie]

I got the half shaft out without removing the big nut and without removing the hub from the lower wishbone BUT I want to change the shock absorber and this is where the fun has started.

The long bolt going through the wishbone, shock and hub won't budge. I think the sleeve in the shock bush is rusted to the bolt. I tried to push it out with a threaded shaft via the opposite bolt holes and only succeded in bending slightly the wishbone! any suggestions?

[Number 7]

ScumbagAdie said:

I got the half shaft out without removing the big nut and without removing the hub from the lower wishbone BUT I want to change the shock absorber and this is where the fun has started. The long bolt going through the wishbone, shock and hub won't budge. I think the sleeve in the shock bush is rusted to the bolt. I tried to push it out with a threaded shaft via the opposite bolt holes and only succeded in bending slightly the wishbone! any suggestions?

Had similar on the 400, ended up carefully cutting the lower eye of the damper open, as the damper needed changing anyway. These bolts can seize in the hub carrier as well - not good news.

7.

[SEvans]

ScumbagAdie said:

I got the half shaft out without removing the big nut and without removing the hub from the lower wishbone BUT I want to change the shock absorber and this is where the fun has started. The long bolt going through the wishbone, shock and hub won't budge. I think the sleeve in the shock bush is rusted to the bolt. I tried to push it out with a threaded shaft via the opposite bolt holes and only succeded in bending slightly the wishbone! any suggestions?

Plus gas if you can afford to leave it soaking for a few days. If that doesn't work then some heat usually does the trick. It will make a mess of any paint work and rubber bits though.

[jchase]

Hmm, did this on friday.

I had to hacksaw through the shock bolt, and it tore up the Wishbone bush. The wishbone doesn't fit in my 20 ton press so it was a hacksaw out the bushing... arghhh


The Big nuts would not budge with a powerful Air impact wrench, running at 9 bar, had to use a 3/4" socket on a 3/4 inch breaker bar - and I had to jump on the end a lot .

Breaker bar and socket cost me about £50 a while back.

-Jim

[ScumbagAdie]

Heat did the trick, just melted the rubber and the bolt came out easy (still with sleave on it though).

Also got rear caliper out eventually. Brake disks look pretty shoddy though any idea how they come off?

The inner bushes on the lower wishbone look well seized as well but I suspect if I heat them up the bolts won't come out because the sleave will be stuck to the bolt. Looks particularly tricky .

[350matt]

The wishbone bushes will probably another junior hacksaw job , cutting it down the middle of the bolt hole to collapse the bush, replace with poly bushes and they'll never need touching again.

The rear discs are off Jag XJS as are the calipers, rig up some ducting to direct some air at them this helps quite a bit under heavy and prolonged use

Matt

[adam quantrill]

I have done the outer UJ's in situ on a trailing arm setup. The outer ones are usually the ones to go, so it's still worth doing it this way. Saves quite a bit of time.