Rear axle removal |
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Jack up the rear of the car and support on suitable axle stands or similar. these should be placed under the body of the car (with a
12" x 12" thick wooden plate to spread the loading) at the point where the inner wheel arch vertical moulding, and the floor intersect. Remove the rear wheels and
place under the car or in a suitable place for safe storage.
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Undo and remove the flexible brake hose between the axle three way hydraulic pipe connector and the body of the car.
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Undo and remove the handbrake cable from the axle at the handbrake lever, item 47 in the exploded view above.
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Undo the 4 5/16"UNF nuts and bolts which hold the rear hardy Spicer joint for the prop shaft and remove the prop shaft
completely from the car by sliding the splined front end of the shaft first inwards to clear the differential then pull it off the gearbox to remove the prop shaft.
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Undo the rear radius arm nuts/bolts which hold the radius arms onto the axle and drift out the bolts to free the radius arms
from the axle.
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Undo and remove the diagonal radius arm from the inner end of the bottom offside radius arm. Undo the nut on the differential end
of the diagonal radius arm and remove the arm from the axle.
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The axle will now be held in place and hanging on the spring/damper assemblies. Support the axle in its current position
using suitable axle stands, be careful not to compress the spring/damper assemblies at this point, you can now undo the lower fastenings on the axle and
remove the bolts holding the bottom of the damper. You now have a choice to completely remove the spring/damper assemblies or leave them in place and
manoeuvre the axle past them to remove it. If you decide to remove the spring/damper assemblies at this stage it is necessary to undo the nuts on the top
pin of the damper, these are located high up inside the wheel arch on a horizontal moulding. With the nuts removed take off the top washer, rubber bush
and lower the spring/damper assembly out of the wheel arch.
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NoteThe rear axle can only be removed from the drivers (offside) side of the car and due to the weight and the
tricky nature of this operation it is highly recommended that it be done by two people working one on either side of the car.
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Removing the rear radius arms |
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Once the rear axle is taken off the vehicle you can remove the rear radius arms if necessary. This is a simple procedure
when the axle is out of the car, it can however be achieved without the necessity to remove the axle if required by following the first few steps detailed
above to free the axle from the back of the radius arms. The front of the radius arms are removed using the following procedure.
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The front of the radius arm passes through a large hole in the bodywork on the front face of the rear wheel arch, the radius
arm itself has 2 large rubber bushes which are fitted either side of the body and secured in place with a large nut inside the car itself, this nut and the
associated washer is located on the lower part of the rear wheel arch just behind the seats, and it is a simple matter of removing the nut and washer which
will then allow you to remove the radius arm from the car through the rear wheel arch.
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Refitting the radius arms is a simple matter of reversing the process used to strip them off the car. It is important that when
the arms are refitted not to tighten the securing nuts too tight as it is the compliance in the bushes that allows the axle to move up and down in normal
driving conditions, if the nuts are fastened too tightly the rear radius arms will be held too rigid and there is a possibility that the radius arms will
crack as they have to bend in order for the suspension to work.
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Copyright © Rochdale Owners Club
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