Changing rear suspension arms

[Bulletman]

Gday All,

This weekends job is replacing upper and lower rear arms... So for those who have done it .,,
- is it better to do upper or lower first or does it not matter
- any secret tips that a first timer needs to know
- when tighteningthe bolts especially those that affect alignment , is it possible to do when the wheels are back on the ground.

I must admit I haven’t have much of a look at the job yet but will when it gets closer.

Cheers Bulletman

[DiscoJeffster]

Gday All,

This weekends job is replacing upper and lower rear arms... So for those who have done it .,,
- is it better to do upper or lower first or does it not matter
- any secret tips that a first timer needs to know
- when tighteningthe bolts especially those that affect alignment , is it possible to do when the wheels are back on the ground.

I must admit I haven’t have much of a look at the job yet but will when it gets closer.

Cheers Bulletman

Put a floor jack under the arm and raise the arm to the correct ‘centre of hub to wheel arch’ height (485mm) so you can tighten them without the wheel in the way, rather than trying to do it lowered.

[Eric SDV6SE]

Bulletman,

I found uppers easier to do first, you need to support the rear hub with a separate jack, watch the upper arm to hub knuckle, the rubber boot on these swivel bearings tear easily. The rear bolt is captive and you need to undo the knuckle bolt and lever the arm up and around to get it out past the slot in the chassis rail. Don't forget to mark the rear camber position so you get it roughly back in the right spot.


Lowers are easier, but you again need to support the hub and the drive shaft too, watch you don't tear the cv joint boot. No eccentrics on these, bit of a fiddle to get the arms back in, I ended up undoing the rear tie rods to allow the whole assembly to pivot enough to get the bolts back in..

Like DJ said, jack the suspension to 485mm hub to arch height and tighten everything up to spec, you won't be able to torque one of the upper bolts unless you have a 24mm crows foot spanner for your torque wrench there is simply no room with the body mount in the way. Unless you take the body off, the only way I got them VFT was to daisy-chain two ring spanners.

Took me about 4h each side, first time I've ever replaced arms like that, plus it was pretty hot so lots of rest breaks

[veebs]

Gday All,

This weekends job is replacing upper and lower rear arms... So for those who have done it .,,
- is it better to do upper or lower first or does it not matter
- any secret tips that a first timer needs to know
- when tighteningthe bolts especially those that affect alignment , is it possible to do when the wheels are back on the ground.

I must admit I haven’t have much of a look at the job yet but will when it gets closer.

Cheers Bulletman

Replacing Rear Suspension Arms and Polybushes - Land Rover Discovery 3 - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toU_Tx2hmy8)

Some useful tips in this one... :)

[Bulletman]

Well done this job over the last day and a half in between torrential rain downpours.

The passenger side is the worse, bolts just long enough to catch on the air suspension compressor cover, also the both exhaust pipes interfere with the bottom rear bolt which takes for some interesting moving techniques .

21mm crows foot spanner helped but that centre bolt on the top arm is definitely proof these cars were designed for body off work on a lot of jobs including the rear arms.

So about 4 hours a side , actually 5 hours 1st side and 3 hours second, and knowing the way you need to twist or struggle or push or all 3 together.

Car goes in for wheel alignment on Monday but a drive around the block says this has cured my shudder under brakes which I have been trying to fix for about 6 months.

My D3 is a 2008 with just under 200k on the clock , done it’s share of towing camper trailer and my ex army trailer but nothing heavy , but done it’s share of rough roads thru Arnhem Land.

The top arm bushes were far worse than the bottom , but all were in a very average way , actually the top centre bush had completely separated on both sides.

Hopefully it’s not a job I will have to do again but it certainly was something that needed to be done.

Cheers Bulletman

[Eric SDV6SE]

Well done mate, forgot about the exhaust getting in the way. same in the D4, I ended up undoing the rearmost rubber hanger and was able to move it enough to get the socket and torque wrench onto it. I noticed too the upper bushes were seriously flogged out, but not separated. The new arms also highlighted the bearing play and finally the rotor issues I had. Hopefully all good for the next 220000km.