Knocking rear end

[beko1987]

I have noticed some strong camber on the rear drivers side wheel of the ZX. Reading teh internetz, it seems that something is knackered.

 

Does anyone have a good how to or experience of either:

 

Replacing the worn stuff with new. DIY on the road job or special tools needed?

How much of an arse a whole new rear beam is?

What bits will I actually need?

 

Previous owner said the beam was a 'good used' one a few years ago. The rear end knocks like fuck recently, even with the spare wheel case and gubbins out. The exhaust doesnt knock at all.

 

Is it worth me fixing this on a £300 ZX, or should I wait until august bonus month and buy a non clonking ZX and swap my good bits over and scrap the rest? Will it suddenly catastrophically fail and wipe out several nun carrying kittens, or just knock like fuck for the rest of its life?

 

I found this - http://www.ironpumacustoms.co.uk/mech/106rearbearing/ which is a pretty good read, although it looks like I need to strip it all off first to see if its fucked or not. A quick bit of googling found these kits: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CITROEN-ZX-ALL-MODELS-REAR-AXLE-REPAIR-KIT-TRAILING-ARM-BUSH-BEARING-/270856675896. Is this what I need? Do I need 2 kits (one for each side) or not?

 

If it's do-able, I may tackle it as a summer project. If not and a new/good rear beam is £££ and an arse to fit, then it can stay clonking. Only does it on certain road surfaces, on the mway/non shit roads it's fine. The wheel does look cambery though, must get it on a flat level surface and have a proper look one day...

[bub2006]

Don't these have a sort of passive rear wheel steer? I think it's just a case of removing bushes and putting new ones in. Could be a ball ache of a job,never done one myself

[bub2006]

Common issue I think.

[hairnet]

[forddeliveryboy]

If the car's a really good one then worth sorting it. Post a pic of the car, a quarter view of the side will make it obvious how bad the lean is to those of us who've had this sort of thing.

[beko1987]

Will watch that video later, thanks!

 

No idea if mine passivley rear wheel steers tbh, never noticed much difference. If it's just a case of re-bushing it all I can swallow that, I imagine everything rubber back there is fucked, including the tyres.

 

Will keep googling (and that video later...)

[beko1987]

If the car's a really good one then worth sorting it. Post a pic of the car, a quarter view of the side will make it obvious how bad the lean is to those of us who've had this sort of thing.

Will do that when it's on a level surface. Only noticed it parked on a slope on gravel...

[Rusty_Rocket]

The problem is, by the time you notice the excessive camber, the bearings will have started to break up and irrepairably score the beam itself.

The beam has a machined surface at the end that the bearings in the arms run on and if this isn't perfect, you'll be back to square one in a few thousand miles!

Only options in my opinion is a fully rebuilt exchange beam (complete) or a good 2nd hand one.  Fitting a complete unit is not difficult; sure it's heavy but I did the one on my red 106 while lying on the ground, eating mud.  It's only 4 bolts and brakes!

[beko1987]

 

 

There's deffo a camber, but no tyre wear over the last 10k.

 

How much do good rear beams go for? If its under £200 then maybe, over £200 and I may as well buy another zx with a good rear beam and swap my good stuff over to it...

[UltraWomble]

Ive seen worse, but that generally means the whole bearing race is buggered and its eaten through the housing into the beam.

 

There is some talk of tapping and putting grease nipples into the rear bearing holders on FCF and Ausiefrogs.

 

Clanging rear ends over bumps in the road is generally the rear subframe bushes, not the nicest job, but not the worst. A lot of Cits suffer with it, the Picasso and C8 are both clanging - the Picasso can clang all it wants Im doing nothing, but the C8 will get new rubber bushes this summer.

[beko1987]

I'd describe it as a hollow clonking sound, I thought maybe I'd lost an exhaust mount or something.

 

If its just bushes I may have a go, but don't want to spend time and money when its just going to shit itself down the line

[Rusty_Rocket]

Offside looks ok-ish, nearside looks a bit dead I'm afraid!

Complete beam should be under £100 s/h, finding a decent one is probably not easy now- unless they are the same as the 306? 

[beko1987]

All the googling and info ive got has come from 306 forums... Let's check eBay...

[beko1987]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=251286646626&alt=web

 

Hmmmmm, will my car last until august...

[Rusty_Rocket]

Wow that £195 from the Polish supplier is very good for a fully rebuilt beam!!

[beko1987]

Yea. If I get the fast idle sorted, get the emissions fixed and new rear calipers beforehand it may be justifiable.

[twosmoke300]

I always use im axles . Good service and good quality rebuilt units

[beko1987]

Good to know! I'm presuming now that the previous owners idea of a good replacement beam was one that was fine at the time, not a rebuilt one...

 

Wilhave to step it up a notch at work to get a bigger bonus!

[D Spares & Tyres]

 The knocking will not be the axle itself, it will be one of the bushes or maybe exhaust pipe

 

The camber issue is worn bearings which can be replaced but once they have worn to the point where the wheel is visibly on an angle then the axle will be worn too so you won`t be able to refurb this one

 

A second hand axle should be easy enough to source as they are shared with the Peugeot 306. I used to have loads of these but am currently sold out.

 

To fit an axle is 2 hours work if it goes smoothly, I`ve done plenty on my own but easier with 2 people

 

Once you source an axle ( £80 max ) you can make it live much longer by keeping a concrete slab in the boot or some other weight. When they are worked up and down a lot then all the bearing are used ( around 25 at a guess ) but unladen all the weight is only on a few which is why they tend to seize then wear.

 

Its already been mentioned but grease nipples can be added which is a great idea PSA should have done.

[beko1987]

Looking at ebay axles (not the refurbished poland one) comes in at £120 from IM as mentioned above. Unless you could provide examples of £80 ones (or could get one through your contacts?)

 

I presume I need to swap the hubs, calipers and everything else over?

 

I want to do the job, but it's swinging in the balance of being financially worth it, if I didnt need rear calipers too it would be an easier decision...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-306-Citroen-Xsara-Citroen-ZX-Rear-Axle-Centre-Tube-with-Bearings-/111580978977?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19fabe9f21

 

I'll also need to obtain new bushes, do you know which ones I would need in a 'replace them all whilst the bastards off' kind of thing?

 

Will the exhaust need to come off? The back box is welded to the centre pipe for added fun, can the whole exhaust be dropped at once or o they need seperating? If so then that's another nail in needing a new exhaust too by the time I;ve cut the old one off...

 

Does it matter if the rear beam was originally drum braked rather than disc? Or would I carry all that over from my car?

[michael1703]

Budget for brake pipes/flexis/fluid just in case you get some knackered pipes

[beko1987]

damn that's a good shout! It's solid pipe at the back, and the passenger side one came off of, may buy a proper brake pipe spanner if nothing else!

[D Spares & Tyres]

Plenty of breakers yard should have the axles. I`ve not rung any of my local yards, you would probably be better off finding one in your area

 

The exhaust will need to be separated unless you can drop the rear of it to the floor and get the axle out on top of it.

 

The secondhand axle should come with all it`s bushes. It might have a knackered one but with any luck one of yours may be ok and you can swap it. But they aren`t expensive.

 

I would just use the brakes that came with the new axle, much easier. The only issue is if your car has ABS and the new axle doesn`t. But I`ve never had a ZX  with ABS.

 

You say you have discs? Is yours a Volcane then?

[D Spares & Tyres]

Budget for brake pipes/flexis/fluid just in case you get some knackered pipes

So long as you seperate the pipes further along the system ( under the boot floor ) I doubt you will have a problem, they tend not to be so rusty. So long as you can get the scrapyard to chop them after this point...

[beko1987]

Yep, mines a volcano! Seemed a good idea at the time, but not so much now I need to find specific parts for it! Exhaust bits for a start are quite expensive and rare is!

 

Am trying with the idea of 306 rear calipers to start with, if they go on then I'll look at one of those £200 beams unless something else comes along. If I'm gonna fix it I'll keep it long enough to justify the cost and see out 300,000 miles. If I can't find the parts then I'll do something else...

[beko1987]

And the beam on it currently was from an abs car, has the rings and whatnot on it still!

 

What are the chances of catastrophic failure should the worst happen... How long do they stay chambered for but still in one piece?

[D Spares & Tyres]

Indefinately. The wheel will end up rubbing on the inner arch. The correct Autoshite way of fixing this is to take wheel off and bash the inner arch in with a lump hammer. Or put a spacer on the wheel. Or both :

 

Don`t scrap it though, I have a mate who  is fixated with Volcanes. He has a diesel one he has tuned to 260 bhp. There are a few of us round here who have  had them. All on WVO

[beko1987]

It would never be scrapped! I'd either buy another ZX 1.9td and swap the better bits over then offer the rest on here, or just sell it.

 

Now I have a bit of time I might just fix it thanks to the info I'm getting... Doesn't sound too horrendous to do, but once fixed I'll have to start being precious about it rather than it just being an honest shitter...

[twosmoke300]

Most of the psa beams I've done you don't need to undo the brake pipes just unbolt the calipers/ drum backplates and leave them hang on the handbrake cables . Iirc there are a couple of m8 bolts that hold the flexis to the radius arms too