Re-bushing a CATS damper? 2000 XJR
Discussion
My car failed its MOT yesterday on nearside front lower balljoint and offside front lower damper bush. I have had a look on britishparts and the suspension arm is £70 and a damper bush £5.16. Not bad i thought until i spoke to my mechanic. He has told me that a specialist press is required to compress the bush width ways before it can be pressed into the damper. He does not have the equipment and does not know anybody that does.
The alternative is a new damper, which having rung around would appear to be a Jaguar-only part. I guess this will be a few hundred pounds.
Has anybody had a damper re-bushed and was it difficult?
I would far rather spend £5.16 plus labout than several hundred ££££
Thanks for your help
Richard
The alternative is a new damper, which having rung around would appear to be a Jaguar-only part. I guess this will be a few hundred pounds.
Has anybody had a damper re-bushed and was it difficult?
I would far rather spend £5.16 plus labout than several hundred ££££
Thanks for your help
Richard
Richard,
You mechanic is talking from a position of lack of knowledge of the component.
I just fully rebuilt my front suspension. The shock lower bush was one of the easier parts to fit. The old bush can be pressed out in a vice n time honoured way of pushing it into the void of a large socket. The new bush goes in very easily, again, in the vice. A light smear of red rubber-safe grease helps it in without distortion. The top bush is made of a hard polyurethane disc and does not seem to wear out (at 102k miles)
More significantly, to change the lower arm, the load has to be taken off the spring pan. There is a recommended Jag tool to compress the spring safely. It can be done with other types of compressor (as I did and garages may well try) but one had better be sure about your application of the tools as the compressed spring is likely to cause severe injury if it escapes!!!
You mechanic is talking from a position of lack of knowledge of the component.
I just fully rebuilt my front suspension. The shock lower bush was one of the easier parts to fit. The old bush can be pressed out in a vice n time honoured way of pushing it into the void of a large socket. The new bush goes in very easily, again, in the vice. A light smear of red rubber-safe grease helps it in without distortion. The top bush is made of a hard polyurethane disc and does not seem to wear out (at 102k miles)
More significantly, to change the lower arm, the load has to be taken off the spring pan. There is a recommended Jag tool to compress the spring safely. It can be done with other types of compressor (as I did and garages may well try) but one had better be sure about your application of the tools as the compressed spring is likely to cause severe injury if it escapes!!!
I'm surprised you need a whole new lower wishbone - the ball joint is available as a separate part too.
As already mentioned FFS don't take risks with spring compressors - you can hire the correct Jaguar tool from the JEC, which is the only safe option as unlike most types that fit outside the spring it compresses the spring from the inside. You'll see how important that is if you look at the spring in situ. It's compressed in an arc on the car and conventional external compressors could easily slip round the spring and fly off, which they tend to do even on a straight spring. Personally I'd never even contamplate using anything other than the Jaguar tool - I've seen suspension springs let go in the past it'll easily cost you a finger or far worse
One - if all else fails method - of removing bushings is to simply cut the old one through from inside with a hacksaw and then use a machinists chisel to tap the two halves out.
Or if it's not on a vunerable component and impossible to shift by any other means you could simply burn out with a torch... but I'd never suggest anybody even thought of doing a thing like that..
As already mentioned FFS don't take risks with spring compressors - you can hire the correct Jaguar tool from the JEC, which is the only safe option as unlike most types that fit outside the spring it compresses the spring from the inside. You'll see how important that is if you look at the spring in situ. It's compressed in an arc on the car and conventional external compressors could easily slip round the spring and fly off, which they tend to do even on a straight spring. Personally I'd never even contamplate using anything other than the Jaguar tool - I've seen suspension springs let go in the past it'll easily cost you a finger or far worse
One - if all else fails method - of removing bushings is to simply cut the old one through from inside with a hacksaw and then use a machinists chisel to tap the two halves out.
Or if it's not on a vunerable component and impossible to shift by any other means you could simply burn out with a torch... but I'd never suggest anybody even thought of doing a thing like that..
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