Ask a Shiter

[666jjp]

Ah, OK,  That could be awkward - the track rod end won't come off the track rod, hence why I'm replacing the whole thing (or trying to).  Might be new boot time then methinks.

cut it off and use one of these

 

http://www.rockshore.uk.com/bailcast-universal-split-cv-boot-kit-11537-p.asp

[wuvvum]

Forscan + elm327 interface.

I ended up buying an F-Super OBD2 interface and Formidable software - seems to do the job.

[Kiltox]

Grinder will take the track rod end off the inner track rod very quickly....

[wuvvum]

Grinder will take the track rod end off the inner track rod very quickly....

Unfortunately no power where I work on my cars.

[wuvvum]

Can anybody tell me anything about Peugeot 205 wheel cylinders?  I'm trying to order one off eBay, but the ones which look right for my car (bleed nipple next to brake pipe connection, and cylinders therefore handed) all say they are for cars without a servo.  The cylinders which are listed for cars with servo all have the bleed nipple below the pipe connection, and therefore won't fit my car.  My confusion isn't helped by some sellers listing one cylinder as compatible with every 205 ever built, which is blatantly not right.

 

Any pointers gratefully received...

[The Moog]

Unfortunately no power where I work on my cars.

 

 

I wouldnt be without my cordless grinder now 

[oldcars]

My caravan leaks like feck. I need to get this sorted. Its around the roof light and a vent. Its an old 1987 Adria. Can i crawl on the roof to fix it? I'm not roy chubby brown, but nor am i mo farah. What do we think?

[5speedracer]

New brakes all round on '13 A class and now have a bit of brake pump like a stuck caliper.

If I had been too enthusiastic with grease on the sliders could this be acting as too much of a seal or slightly hydraulicing causing the problem?

 

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[Jon]

How hard would it be to locate/purchase/transport a Citroen XM headlight and grille to Australia from the UK or Europe?

 

I know of a local guy who's very much into Citroens, so will ask if he has any leads on XM bits in NZ. He also travels to Aus quite regularly and attends Citroen rallies there, so may even have some Aussie parts contacts. 

[stephen01]

My caravan leaks like feck. I need to get this sorted. Its around the roof light and a vent. Its an old 1987 Adria. Can i crawl on the roof to fix it? I'm not roy chubby brown, but nor am i mo farah. What do we think?

 

when​ I fixed* mine I removed the vent and popped up through that way, i'd not want to put to much weight on the roof, if you have the option perhaps a large blanket and piece of osb or something across to spread the load?

[oldcars]

when​ I fixed* mine I removed the vent and popped up through that way, i'd not want to put to much weight on the roof, if you have the option perhaps a large blanket and piece of osb or something across to spread the load?

The more i think about it the more i don't want to go on it. I can just see me fixing the two leaks are creating 10 more. The vents are two small to get to. Might nust have to go up the ladder from each side of the van and tackle it that way.

[DodgeRover]

The more i think about it the more i don't want to go on it. I can just see me fixing the two leaks are creating 10 more. The vents are two small to get to. Might nust have to go up the ladder from each side of the van and tackle it that way.

When I did ours I laid on a sheet of kingspan dense insulation (think thick polystyrene) to spread the load and kept to where I could feel the ribs were. Use proper non setting mastic not silicon.

[jonny69]

What’s the secret with old rope crank seals? They’re supplied over-length, as a crescent shape and impregnated in a sort of hard white clay substance. What do I need to do to them before fitting and what’s an appropriate length to cut them to?

 

Essentially, last time I soaked them in oil for a couple of hours, cut them very slightly over length so they’d compress slightly, and assembled. It was extremely tight getting them in which made the engine quite tight to turn over. And the engine leaks like buggery out the back, so I must have did it rong.

[alf892]

Can anybody tell me anything about Peugeot 205 wheel cylinders?  I'm trying to order one off eBay, but the ones which look right for my car (bleed nipple next to brake pipe connection, and cylinders therefore handed) all say they are for cars without a servo.  The cylinders which are listed for cars with servo all have the bleed nipple below the pipe connection, and therefore won't fit my car.  My confusion isn't helped by some sellers listing one cylinder as compatible with every 205 ever built, which is blatantly not right.

 

Any pointers gratefully received...

Does not matter where they show the nipple........pipe and nipple will be interchangeable.

 

Best check is brake (drum) size then bore size of cylinder. Some sites on the web will give this info...............although some will ask brake make like ATE/Bendix/Girling and then it gets tricky

[wuvvum]

Yep, 205s have a mix of Bendix and Girling brakes.  Looking at the diagram of the brake shoes in the HBOL mine look like Girling, but searching for Girling on eBay brings up all sorts of crap (I think they must have been pissing around with their search engine again).

[catsinthewelder]

Are there any tools you would carry if travelling a long way in a Renault 12 or perhaps a Dacia 1310 estate?

 

I remember my Megane containing an irritating amount of 16mm and 18mm bolts which required additions to the toolkit.

 

Thankyou

[wuvvum]

I would definitely suggest taking at least one Mot 23-12 384 socket with you.

[Slowsilver]

NLA. I checked

 

[wuvvum]

In that case my only recommendation would be a pair of large brass testicles.

[wuvvum]

I am probably going to be a regular poster in this thread over the next week or two, so I crave your indulgence as I pit my woefully limited mechanical skills against the wonders of 1980s French engineering.

 

I've ordered new brake shoes for the 205, as well as a replacement hub nut.  I was going to whip the cylinder off this evening to have a look and make sure I get the correct replacement (all the pictures on eBay show the cylinders from the mounting side), but the two mounting bolts have spent the last 23 years returning to nature and are now very much as one with the backplate, and the chances of them coming undone are between zero and none.  So I'm going to have to give it my best guess - and hope that there's access enough to drill the bolts out once the shoes have been removed.

 

This evening's question concerns the track rod.  The new one arrived this evening, so I went to investigate fitting it to the car.  The Haynes manual simply says "Unscrew the track rod inner balljoint from the steering rack end".  GR9.

 

This is the track rod on the car:

 

 

And this is the new one for reference:

 

 

Leaving the access issues caused by the 205's abysmal steering lock to one side for the moment, as you can see, the track rod has some handy flats machined into it to enable it to be gripped by a 16mm spanner.  Except that they are outboard of the ball joint, and obviously all that happens when you put a spanner on is that the ball joint turns in its socket.  The bit that actually bolts into the rack end is, as you can see, round, smooth and made of metal - and, on the one on the car at least, covered in grease. 

 

So how the actual fuck are you supposed to get a hold of it to unscrew it from the rack?  Especially as there's a lock washer arrangement which is there (one assumes) to prevent it from coming unscrewed.  There must be something obvious that I'm missing, surely?

[twosmoke300]

There is a special universal tool available for not a huge amount . For years tho I used good mole grips to grip it then a pry bar on the grips to undo it. Make sure you use a locking tab or degrease the threads and loctite when putting the new one in

[panhard65]

I am probably going to be a regular poster in this thread over the next week or two, so I crave your indulgence as I pit my woefully limited mechanical skills against the wonders of 1980s French engineering.

 

I've ordered new brake shoes for the 205, as well as a replacement hub nut.  I was going to whip the cylinder off this evening to have a look and make sure I get the correct replacement (all the pictures on eBay show the cylinders from the mounting side), but the two mounting bolts have spent the last 23 years returning to nature and are now very much as one with the backplate, and the chances of them coming undone are between zero and none.  So I'm going to have to give it my best guess - and hope that there's access enough to drill the bolts out once the shoes have been removed.

 

This evening's question concerns the track rod.  The new one arrived this evening, so I went to investigate fitting it to the car.  The Haynes manual simply says "Unscrew the track rod inner balljoint from the steering rack end".  GR9.

 

This is the track rod on the car:

 

IMG_20180514_203200.jpg

 

And this is the new one for reference:

 

IMG_20180514_202941.jpg

 

Leaving the access issues caused by the 205's abysmal steering lock to one side for the moment, as you can see, the track rod has some handy flats machined into it to enable it to be gripped by a 16mm spanner.  Except that they are outboard of the ball joint, and obviously all that happens when you put a spanner on is that the ball joint turns in its socket.  The bit that actually bolts into the rack end is, as you can see, round, smooth and made of metal - and, on the one on the car at least, covered in grease. 

 

So how the actual fuck are you supposed to get a hold of it to unscrew it from the rack?  Especially as there's a lock washer arrangement which is there (one assumes) to prevent it from coming unscrewed.  There must be something obvious that I'm missing, surely?

Stilsons or there is a special tool to get them off. If all else fails a scaffold pole with a bolt screws into the side then tighten it against the round part and put the Stilsons on the scaffold pole. With the wheel cylinders get them from a proper factors rather than ebay as there are a few different types and they are not interchangeable. There are 2 types of non handed and one of the handed type if I remember correctly.

[somewhatfoolish]

What’s the secret with old rope crank seals? They’re supplied over-length, as a crescent shape and impregnated in a sort of hard white clay substance. What do I need to do to them before fitting and what’s an appropriate length to cut them to?

 

Essentially, last time I soaked them in oil for a couple of hours, cut them very slightly over length so they’d compress slightly, and assembled. It was extremely tight getting them in which made the engine quite tight to turn over. And the engine leaks like buggery out the back, so I must have did it rong.

What did the old seal look like? Generally with packed seals like this the 'rope' is cut at an angle and, as you did, slightly overlength. Rope seals never seal completely so it will always ooze/drip.

[dollywobbler]

Are there any tools you would carry if travelling a long way in a Renault 12 or perhaps a Dacia 1310 estate?

 

I remember my Megane containing an irritating amount of 16mm and 18mm bolts which required additions to the toolkit.

 

Thankyou

 

I certainly have an 18mm socket, as that's 2CV shock absorber nut size. Probably have a 16 somewhere too.

[wuvvum]

Stilsons or there is a special tool to get them off. If all else fails a scaffold pole with a bolt screws into the side then tighten it against the round part and put the Stilsons on the scaffold pole. With the wheel cylinders get them from a proper factors rather than ebay as there are a few different types and they are not interchangeable. There are 2 types of non handed and one of the handed type if I remember correctly.

I've had a look at those tools but the main issue is that the track rod end needs to be removed to get them on, and the track rod end is seized solid.  I'm reluctant to cut it off at this stage because if I then still can't get the track rod undone the car is completely immobile and I can't even drive it to a garage to get them to do it.

 

I'll see if I can borrow a decent pair of Stilsons, but my concern with those is the access - the car is on full lock in the photo and there's no way you'd get Stilsons on there through the arch, so I'd have to try and get to it from underneath but again access isn't brilliant as the rack sits right above the subframe.  Bloody French motors.

[320touring]

Wuv,

 

I've had success using a cooling fan spanner like below - they're thin jawed so can get in the gap betwixt rack end and rod - on a BMW E36, it worked superbly.

 

Obvs, check whether the distance between the flats is either 32 or 36mm

 

[Eddie Honda]

Yours looks to take a C-spanner, but as twosmoke300 says, you can get a cheap universal tool for the job:

 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272333923355

[5speedracer]

As mentioned yesterday I've brake judder despite new discs/pads. Boy at work reckons a buckled wheel could feel like fucked brakes despite feeling ok in normal driving. Anyone got experience?

Bloody state of the roads a buckled alloy seems distinctly possible.

 

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[Guest Hooli]

How well did you clean the mating face the discs sit on? Sticky caliper, either piston or slider?

[5speedracer]

How well did you clean the mating face the discs sit on? Sticky caliper, either piston or slider?

No sticky caliper, checked. Going to have one side off tonight as I can't remember if I cleaned the face on it. I can remember doing the other though.

Fingers crossed for easy fix

 

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