urgent help required lowering

loud · Post by **loud** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:31 pm

trying to lower the front of my car, passenger side went fine but drivers side is being a s**t

it wont drop far enough to get the strut out, driveshaft seems to be stopping it dropping...arb is disconnected

any ideas?

flyfs6 · Post by **flyfs6** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:04 pm

If you have a 36mm socket, disconnect the drivershaft from the hub and remove strut complete with it.

I haven't otherwise got a clue

. All the best

loud · Post by **loud** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:43 pm

well we couldn't get the ball joint to split but ended up disconnecting some various other bits and managing to get it in with the springs under full compression...what a bloody job!

andy947 · Post by **andy947** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:30 am

All you needed to do is undo the 3 bolts securing the balljoint to the wishbone, slide it out, and you get enough clearance.

loud · Post by **loud** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:15 am

yea we did that but it still needed the springs under full compression and a bit of arsing around to get it to go in

I love how VW make things stupid, like multi-spline bolts/dodgy allen key sizes...required some tool borrowing and some allen key grinding

andy947 · Post by **andy947** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:58 am

loud wrote:yea we did that but it still needed the springs under full compression and a bit of arsing around to get it to go in

I love how VW make things stupid, like multi-spline bolts/dodgy allen key sizes...required some tool borrowing and some allen key grinding

Didnt need to have compressors on the strut when i refitted the Standard stuff last week, just dropped the ball joint out and it gave enough room, even with the much stiffer cupra bushes in there, but it is still awkward due to the lack of drop caused by the drive shaft.

Can do the strut securing bolt with a pair of mole grips on the head, no real need for the large spline bit - although i will admit a normal hex head would have been a better design.

RUM4MO · Post by **RUM4MO** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:04 am

I sympathise with you entirely loud - what should be an easy job turn to sh**e! I ended up cutting the selflocking track rod end to bits - well the top half anyway. I even tried splitting the nut with a nut splitter - eventually that worked along with a lot of release-all and cutting a slot in the threaded part to stop the ball bit rotating. For what its worth, Screwfix sell a large and cheapish tap&die set that includes most of the fine metric threads that are used in this area of the car. As you also will have discovered, most spline sets stop at M12 and the hub clamping bolt is M14 (I think) - so you need to buy an extra one!! Also, the hub nut socket needs to be bihex as the drive shaft securing nut is a 12 pointed jobbie - and it should not be reused as the locking element gets destroyed when you remove it. You might also find the strut top bearing set falls apart as well plus there are lots of "use once" bolts in there (any greenish ones). The trouble was in my case, the road spring had snapped at half height so I really needed to get it sorted quickly and between Christmas and New Year - what joy - not!! For the N/S you might want to buy Laser Tools item 3396 which makes splitting the hub away from the strut easier (ah too late for that advice!) I think that the "dodgy allen key sizes" might be you referring to the track rod end ball threaded top that you are just meant to fit a Torx key into to stop the ball rotating - my ar*e you just end up opening out this recess as the metal is too soft!

loud · Post by **loud** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:04 am

yea i've done that trick before but was a pain in the t**s slipping when re-tightening so I just went to my mates garage and borrowed his multi-spline tool to save any potential bother

looking at the design and with the other side being more difficult after dropping one side, with the drive shaft being longer on the drivers side would it potentially have been easier to do the drivers side before doing the passengers?

loud · Post by **loud** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:06 am

RUM4MO wrote:I sympathise with you entirely loud - what should be an easy job turn to sh**e! I ended up cutting the selflocking track rod end to bits - well the top half anyway. I even tried splitting the nut with a nut splitter - eventually that worked along with a lot of release-all and cutting a slot in the threaded part to stop the ball bit rotating. For what its worth, Screwfix sell a large and cheapish tap&die set that includes most of the fine metric threads that are used in this area of the car. As you also willhave discovered, most spline sets stop at M12 and the hub clamping bolt is M14 (I think) - so you need to buy an extra one!! Also, the hub nut socket needs to be bihex as the drive shaft securing nut is a 12 pointed jobbie - and it should not be reused as the locking element gets destroyed when you remove it. You might also find the strut top bearing set falls apart as well plus there are lots of "use once" bolts in there (any greenish ones). The trouble was in my case, the road spring had snapped at half height so I really needed to get it sorted quickly and between Christmas and New Year - what joy - not!! For the N/S you might want to buy Laser Tools item 3396 which makes splitting the hub away from the strut easier (ah too late for that advice!)

wow sounds like I got off lightly with my troubles!

RUM4MO · Post by **RUM4MO** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:17 am

I never managed to work out why the strut/hub clamping bolt "faces forwards" if it was reversed it might save the nyloc nut from getting rusted up solid - it might be because of a potential foul condition - I fitted new bolts and nuts in the same as was. I certainly whacked lots of grease on the ends of these bolts and as many others as I could - just in case I need to get in there again. One slight VW "joke" is that this bolt is described as Torx headed in their parts list - luckily I had had a hunch and counted the spines before buying a tool!

whitegtipolo · Post by **whitegtipolo** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:16 pm

s**t to get out the drivers side strut, i just removed the bottom ball joint from the arm (three bolts) as didnt have a socket for the drive shaft! Took me a while to work out why it wouldn't knock down LOL!