Nissan qashqai rear suspension torqueing up on ground

[jackking]

Hi, one of the my rear coil springs broke on my nissan qashaqi, so i got two new ones to replace both sides, i followed the haynes manual guide to replace the rear coil springs, one of the new coil spring is back in position.

The antiroll bar, the damper and the upper suspension arm nuts are hand tightened, the wheel is back on and the car is on the ground, the manual says torque the antiroll bar, damper and upper suspension nuts up while the car is on the ground at normal ride height.

I've torqued the the damper and antiroll bar to the values in the haynes manual, but cannot get enough leverage to torque the upper suspension arm up while it's on the ground.

Would this be acceptable to do, measure from the top of the wheel arch to the centre of the wheel hub while the car is on the ground, jack the car up supported by axle stands and remove the wheel, put a bottle jack under the trailing arm and jack the trailing arm up to the measured height from centre of hub to top of wheel arch then torque the upper suspension arm up to the required value, will this be the same as normal ride height.

Thanks for reading my post any help or advice greatly welcome.

[E-bmw]

Yes, that will do exactly the same thing, as in set the rubber bush in its normal position.

[InitialDave]

Yes, that's a perfectly reasonable approach to take.

[GreenV8S]

THat would be a reasonable approach. If you can see and mark the orientation of the bush while the vehicle is on its wheels you could also just tighten the bolt as far as practical, jack the vehicle up and see whether the bush has shifted in its mount. If not, just tighten the bolt. The goal is to avoid the bush being preloaded at the normal ride height.

[jackking]

Thank you everyone, i will finish the job off now i know it's ok to do it this way, i was following the haynes manual, wheel on the ground, trying to torque it up while laid on my back under car, it just wasn't happening.

It's the first time i've done my suspension, you'd think the haynes manual would give clearer information for those at home with limited knowledge like my self who are not mechanics and without access to a ramp or pit.

Thanks again.

[InitialDave]

The trouble is, if they tell you that technique, some idiot will leverage the car off the jack onto themselves, and it'll be Haynes' fault.

[jackking]

I finished the job of this morning, it was 45cm from the centre of wheel hub to top of the wheel arch with the wheel on the ground, i checked it against the other side that hadn't been changed yet both were 45cm's so jacked the car up, lifted the swing arm up till i got to 45cm's centre of hub to top of the wheel arch then torqued up the bolts to the specs listed in the manual.

When i lowered the car back to ground with wheel on i re measured the distance was now 47cm's, i took it for a 10 minute drive to the bottom of the road and back then checked the measurements again, it's now 44cm's on both sides, do you think the car will rise again by 1cm back to 45cm when it's been sat a while, is it that i sat in the car with my weight and drive that lowered the height from 45cm to 44cm, do you think this is a problem.

Thanks for the help.

[GreenV8S]

You're done, it's fine, stop fretting over it.

[InitialDave]

Yep, that's fine, nothing to be concerned about.

[jackking]

First rear suspension job done and dusted then.

Great forum with knowledgable people, i've been reading through the forum, alot more than just motoring, even a watch section, great stuff.

Thanks

[Captain Answer]

Reminds me of doing a Focus a long time ago, think the instructions were to compress the rear to a certain distance so made up a 2x2 guide of that length

Using a trolley jack under the wheel with the car sat on axle stands to try and set it but was springing up a bit to high to hit the compression length, had to get my mum to sit in the back seat to ballast it down a bit