To ARB or not to ARB?
To ARB or not to ARB?
Author
Discussion

Tokyokev

Original Poster:

138 posts

266 months

Monday 11th September 2006
quotequote all
I have some nice shiny new GAZ Gold shocks and springs coming in the post to Tokyo soon and Powerflex Diff bushes, (FYI: Derek is a really nice helpful chap to deal with at absolutelyshocks)...

...so with this in mind, can I now cut out my rear ARB? the mounts are shot and it's rattling around, so would rather get rid of it.

Will I have a floppy rear if I do? What are the implications? Will it be dangerous? i know the room is probably divided on this subject, but the easy 'get rid of it' route is my preferred.

Very best from tokyo,

Kev

Captain Beaky

1,389 posts

313 months

Monday 11th September 2006
quotequote all
I have Nitrons and mine's disconnected - just held up out of the way with cable ties. It's standard TCS practice I believe.

I haven't tried a back-to-back test with it in/out but if Jools suggests disconnecting it that's good enough for me.

gazzab

21,639 posts

311 months

Monday 11th September 2006
quotequote all
Get rid - if you have decent suspension it will improve handling for trackdays. I had no arb on my last cerb and it was fine. Never felt it was a problem. You could just unhook it and tie it out of the way?

BCA

8,651 posts

286 months

Monday 11th September 2006
quotequote all
Surely you've bought some Gaz DAMPERS and springs... or am I missing something here? hehe

Julian64

14,325 posts

283 months

Monday 11th September 2006
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Hmmm, I have nitrons and tried with and without the ARB. I'm afraid I would argue for it. Maybe thats because I don't what the hell I'm doing and have therefore voided my own argument when setting up my nitrons.

I think I had fairly strong springs, and prefered medium to soft damper settings. But I found when the rear let go, (and it takes quite a lot of abuse to make the rear let go as it currently stands) it was a lot easier to get it back under control with the arb than without it.

I think re-reading my post you'd be pretty mad to listen to anything I said, but with the possible exception of giving it a try before you plug in the angle grinder rather than doing it in advance of receiving the shocks. After all the mounts are only going to be a couple of pence and are very easy to replace.

P.S. if you are going to give it a go with the arb, don't fall into the hole that I lot of people who hate the arb do. The arb is not a fire and forget thing. Its performance drops dramatically if you don't grease it fairly regularly (approx six monthly).

Good luck

Captain Beaky

1,389 posts

313 months

Monday 11th September 2006
quotequote all
Julian64 said:

I think I had fairly strong springs, and prefered medium to soft damper settings. But I found when the rear let go, (and it takes quite a lot of abuse to make the rear let go as it currently stands) it was a lot easier to get it back under control with the arb than without it.


Julian - Just out of interest can you remember what rate your springs are ?

Julian64

14,325 posts

283 months

Monday 11th September 2006
quotequote all
Captain Beaky said:
Julian64 said:

I think I had fairly strong springs, and prefered medium to soft damper settings. But I found when the rear let go, (and it takes quite a lot of abuse to make the rear let go as it currently stands) it was a lot easier to get it back under control with the arb than without it.


Julian - Just out of interest can you remember what rate your springs are ?


Yep 450 front and 375 rears on nitrons. I think I finally settled on three clicks from soft on the rear and five clicks from soft at the front. Chap at nitron was very helpful. Let me change from 350 to 375 on rear when I'd obviously bought the wrong thing.

Although I am running 18" spiders so at least some of my soft damper rate is probably to suit this.

RR Cerbera

125 posts

313 months

Tuesday 12th September 2006
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Is it possible to grease the arb mounting rubbers if you only have a trolley jack and can only jack up one corner of the car at a time? They seem to have needed greasing more frequently than every 6 months on my Cerbs and I'm fed up with taking the car back to the garage for this to be done.

I'm fairly useful with a set of spanners but I'd appreciate any advice or pictures that people may have. What grease is recommended?

Tokyokev

Original Poster:

138 posts

266 months

Tuesday 12th September 2006
quotequote all
Thanks guys...advice as clear as mud, as usual

I will try both and spend an entire weekend jacking up the rear...jacking down the rear...jacking up the rear...

Best

k

jensena

5,671 posts

259 months

Tuesday 12th September 2006
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RR Cerbera said:
Is it possible to grease the arb mounting rubbers if you only have a trolley jack and can only jack up one corner of the car at a time? They seem to have needed greasing more frequently than every 6 months on my Cerbs and I'm fed up with taking the car back to the garage for this to be done.

I'm fairly useful with a set of spanners but I'd appreciate any advice or pictures that people may have. What grease is recommended?



Yes it is, use CoppaSlip though (Halfords) it's much more slippery and lasts a lot longer, good stuff.