RDW collection: New tool, new approach. Achtung heiß!

[RoverFolkUs]

17 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

So finally got a bit of time to poke this today...

Yep that bottom bushes is well cunted, so much so that the arm has been chewed up by the shock absorber. 

It was ten types of slag to get off, not because the bolts wouldn't come undone, but because I just could not get enough angle on the arm to release the inner bolt from the subframe. In the end I cut the arm in half with a reciprocating saw and it gave me more room to manipulate the bolt out.

Getting the balljoint out was a shitbag too, but in the end brute force and a big splitter did the job.

Unfortunately though, it isn't the only thing that is knackered - you may recall I mentioned the car feeling a little odd to drive? 

Well the rear upper arm balljoint is worn out too, I'm hoping that is the cause.

Also it is due a service and possibly a cambelt, but I don't know yet how far down this road I want to go with it.

Sir, may I point you this way... 

22 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

 

[ruffgeezer]

38 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Sir, may I point you this way... 

 

I did try my Mario costume, but sadly it didn't help!

[ruffgeezer]

So begins the least favourite task of the DIY Audi owner... we'll, other than using the indicators that is!

I've one knackered balljoint on the top rear arm,  to replace that arm means taking out the big shit bolt, I believe one of the resident A6 owners has had fun with that recently?

Anyway,  home from walking the mutts after work and it's game on.

I've a fairly standard heat gun, much like your dad would use to fill the house with melted gloss fumes on a Sunday afternoon before repainting the door frames.

Aim heat here: mostly in the slots around balljoints to start.  We're going to need plenty of heat and a lot of patience. 

Time check?  The arms aren't coming until tomorrow so there are definitely no prizes for rushing this bit.

Hands free mode whilst I went and chose some weapons,  we're ten minutes in already.

Keep trying the bolt head, we aren't using brute force yet, just a small amount of even pressure to see what, if anything, gives.

 

At this point everything is getting hot to the touch, I've tried turnjng the bolt and although there is a bit of movement at the head end, the threads have stayed put.  This being the case, my nipsy is twitching like a rabbit's nose,  and I've go for leathering the end of the bolt with a hammer and punch and an SDS drill with punch head.

None of this has helped and so we go back to heating the area.

The aluminium now is almost too hot to touch, and I've resigned myself to replacing both arms so the boots can be ignored.

The bolt now creaks when pressure is applied, so time to break out the impact gun...

 

Woo and indeed Hoo! It all moves!

Using a smaller spanner under the head of the bolt and making use of the residual heat, I keep hard on the buzz gun and draw the bolt in and out until the bond is fully broken.

Final score on the doors:

Lots of heat, lots of patience.

 

Bolt out in one piece:

I shall put a new one in with the replacement arms,  but for now I've a bomb site to attend to!

 

 

[ruffgeezer]

On 10/8/2023 at 1:37 PM, bezzabsa said:

weren't you swayed by the Rover ???? 

 

My trousers certainly got shorter at the thought of it!

[ruffgeezer]

Another delve into this one after work today.  Fucking arms haven't arrived though!

The inner bush looks to be knackered too.

 

Also pulled the cabin filter as I've no idea as to when or if it has been serviced in the last 5 years - no paperwork covering that period of the car's life sadly.

[ruffgeezer]

Two new top arms fitted today,  no pictures as the arms were a day late, it was pissing it with rain and the Laguna that was boxed in behind it is booked in for the first MOT slot tomorrow morning.

Needless to say it was hours of cold and wet fun* and I was dead pleased to find that the battery on the Audi had gone flat, so ended up swapping that out in the rain too!

[Timewaster]

15 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

Two new top arms fitted today,  no pictures as the arms were a day late, it was pissing it with rain and the Laguna that was boxed in behind it is booked in for the first MOT slot tomorrow morning.

Needless to say it was hours of cold and wet fun* and I was dead pleased to find that the battery on the Audi had gone flat, so ended up swapping that out in the rain too!

Sometimes you can see the appeal of a white Kia on PCP.

Instead of fighting the Germans on the driveway in the pissing rain, you could have been sat in the warm with a cup of tea or in the pub with a pint waiting for your freshly microwaved dinner to arrive.

 

Oh no. What have I said?

I will shamefully hand in my badge.

[ruffgeezer]

I'll be honest, when I first got the job on the railway, I actually looked up doing just that on a Dacia Jogger - luckily the category of my head injury must not have been that serious as I only bought a noughties Laguna instead.

[chaseracer]

On 12/10/2023 at 08:47, Timewaster said:

Sometimes you can see the appeal of a white Kia...

Having recently driven such an appliance 3000km around France, I can safely say...

NOPE.

🤔

[ruffgeezer]

So I booked the MOT for the Audi for next week, and I snagged a set of winter wheels and tyres to suit.  I'd best just have a quick look at the OS suspension before I go tracking it up, hadn't I?

Whelp,  glad I hadn't needed it this week.

 

[ruffgeezer]

Grumpy day today, cannot get the pinch bolt out of the TRE, not helped by the fact the locking wheel nut key has gone awol since the last time I was working on the car.

[stuboy]

20 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

So I booked the MOT for the Audi for next week, and I snagged a set of winter wheels and tyres to suit.  I'd best just have a quick look at the OS suspension before I go tracking it up, hadn't I?

Whelp,  glad I hadn't needed it this week.

 

pothole adjustable

[ruffgeezer]

Not many pictures, but today I had round 2 of trying to replace the RH Track rod end.

I bought a Chinese 1100w induction tool, but it really wasn't beefy enough for the job as a whole, despite several attempts at warming it through. 

In the end, I sent Mr Angry-Grinder down the middle of the bolt and extracted the threaded half with the nut and a selection of washers.

I then went back to the induction heater and after braying on the remaining bit of the bolt with a large hammer and drift, it eventually relented and left me to fit the new part.

I have used a 8.8 tensile strength bolt for the moment, but will try and find out if something a bit harder is required.

[ruffgeezer]

Result! It's a 8.8 originally. 

 

Its important to check these things as the wrong rating could cause premature failure.

[Erebus]

I quite fancy one of those induction heaters, they sound like a great idea and seem to be coming down in price.  Would you recommend a more powerful one as you say it wasn't really beefy enough?  Or do you think  it's not the full 1100W it claims to be?

[ruffgeezer]

The jury is out at the moment, I shall give it another test when I've more work to do and see how it performs on smaller stuff like drop links etc.

It passed the mot today,  a few little pointers about upcoming issues, but nothing serious enough to warrant an advisory at this stage.