Refitting standard front suspension

[tom_dot_COM]

I'm having a little trouble getting my standard suspension back on my ph1 172. I have removed my H&Rs and have started getting the old sus back on however am a little stuck!
I used spring compressors to put the spring and shock unit together off of the car. Working from the bottom i put the spring on/over the shock, the bearing over the thread then the thing which the top of the spring rests against on top of that (large plate), with the little nut holding that all together (So the bearing is inside the top plate thing). This leaves just the top mount to be fitted once the shock is positioned poking through into the engine bay. I can't however get the spring/shock assembly around the hub/driveshafts/track rod ends and into place!
Is there something else I need to remove in order to do so?
The H&Rs just came straight off no wiggling no fuss.
Any advice would be great. (Its only been 8 months since I fitted the sus but i've forgotten how I got the old stuff off already)

Tom

 

[Pep]

The bearing goes on last mate, the metal plate goes directly on top of the spring.

Where abouts are you, im sure someone local will offer to help, if you're near derby i can give you a hand

 

[Peperami]

If you're selling the h&r's pm me with a price mate...

 

[DrR]

Have you got both the front wheels off the floor? As the anti roll bars won't allow the hub to drop down enought to fit it all in.

 

[tom_dot_COM]

Have you got both the front wheels off the floor? As the anti roll bars won't allow the hub to drop down enought to fit it all in.

Ive just got the side im working on jacked up, did you mean with both wheels up it will be an issue or with just one up it will be as issue?


Pepsi when you say the bearing goes on last would that mean the order from bottom is:
Strut
Spring over strut
Bigt top plate thing
Little Nut
Bearing
Then just the top mount in the engine bay?

Also when the coilovers were on there was a bronze collar (about 2.5 cm tall, with a thicker part and a thinner part, the whole thing is hollow). Is this just to be fitted with the coilovers? I assume I don't need this with my standard sus???




The H&Rs will be for sale soon, Ill PM you Peperami when there ready.

 

[DrR]

jack both wheels up and put it on axel stands, trust me will be far easier.

 

[Peperami]

Ive just got the side im working on jacked up, did you mean with both wheels up it will be an issue or with just one up it will be as issue?


Pepsi when you say the bearing goes on last would that mean the order from bottom is:
Strut
Spring over strut
Bigt top plate thing
Little Nut
Bearing
Then just the top mount in the engine bay?

Also when the coilovers were on there was a bronze collar (about 2.5 cm tall, with a thicker part and a thinner part, the whole thing is hollow). Is this just to be fitted with the coilovers? I assume I don't need this with my standard sus???




The H&Rs will be for sale soon, Ill PM you Peperami when there ready.

Cheers dude

Good luck with getting them off, as rollo says will be easier on axle stands.

 

[tom_dot_COM]

Cheers guys, i'll jack the other side up tommorow and bang it on some axel stands.
​

Anyone know about the gold collar thing?

 

[tom_dot_COM]

Ok so i've jacked up both sides now and the car is on stands.
Now I want to make sure Im putting the suspension back together correctly and that i'm not missing anything:
This is my spring/shock assambly so far:

I don't have a picture of the bearing but does it go directly on top of this, before anything else?

Now the 3 parts below are confusing me, can anyone please tell me if these are just for the h&rs or if they belong on the standard suspension as well?
A.

B.

C.

Finally I have this piece which I know belong is the engine bay right on top of the pile:

If anyone could comfirm the order of these bits and which bits don't belong it would be great.
I have a terrible memory and should have really documented when I originally removed all this.

Tom

 

[Tucker]

ahhhh tricky one buddy, they are all meant to be there, they are your top mounts.

dont recognise B but it's a phase one so i'm guessing that might be different

make sure that when you put pressure on it the bearing can spin

try B,A,C.


C goes inside A by the way

 

[tom_dot_COM]

Nice one for the quik reply mate.

Maybe B is just for the coilovers as the massive plate above the spring (shown on spring is first photo) was not on the coilovers, but that smaller one was!

Tom

 

[tom_dot_COM]

can someone confirm where the little nut sits as well please?

 

[tom_dot_COM]

This i becoming quite a pain now
I have now assembled the spring and shock combi:

It seems quite obvious now that I have it in the right order:

I am however now having problems getting this onto the car.
It would seem that it needs to enter to the rear of the arch (the right side of the photo) as the brake line at the front has a kink suggesting that.
But how do I get it into the arch? It just won't fit! And the mounting points on the hub are way higher than I can get the shock anywhere near atm.
Anyone got any tips, I assume it needs to enter to the rear of the arch?
At the moment I am supporting the weight of the hub on a jack, but the hub is not jacked up at all, the jack is just taking the weight, so the hub and everything attaching to it is still as low as it will go and yet not enough space?

:dapprove:

 

[tom_dot_COM]

bump, shock is upright and in arch but really struggling to get it high enough and bolted up even using trolley jack.

 

[172Ben]

You need to use a bit of force mate. I had to get a long bar to pull the wishbone down, and get that low enough to get the holes to line up

 

[tom_dot_COM]

You need to use a bit of force mate. I had to get a long bar to pull the wishbone down, and get that low enough to get the holes to line up

I was unsure about how much downwards force to apply as I was led to believe the hub required supporting at all times to prevent the driveshaft popping! Is it ok to apply force to the wishbone as it will pivot and not drag the hub down then?

 

[172Ben]

worked on mine with no issues

 

[tom_dot_COM]

worked on mine with no issues

nice one mate, ill have a go tommorow night and report back!

:approve:

 

[rich-6]

The way to do it is not through the wishbone.

Go above the ARB and under the subframe, That way the bar supports itself and you can lean on it to lower the arm and pop the bolt in, DONT let go of the hub while doing it, It will pop out and will be followed by lots of GB oil you will also stress your brake lines if you do.

Ive done it in the past not using a bar just pure Man beef to get it lined up, I would't advise this though my car nearly ended up on the floor

 

[tom_dot_COM]

The way to do it is not through the wishbone.

Go above the ARB and under the subframe, That way the bar supports itself and you can lean on it to lower the arm and pop the bolt in, DONT let go of the hub while doing it, It will pop out and will be followed by lots of GB oil you will also stress your brake lines if you do.

Ive done it in the past not using a bar just pure Man beef to get it lined up, I would't advise this though my car nearly ended up on the floor

Spot on mate did it at the weekend in the end, easy once you know how ehh

P.S you must have amazing man beef coz it was hard enough with the bar
Definitly would hav been easier with more than 2 hands as well.