Front Lower Wishbone Replacement

I have looked at the guide on how to do this, and it states

I thought that at this point, if I lowered the jack then the sub would lower. No. I undid the bolt at the bottom of the front suspension dampner. Making note of the order of spacer, washers etc.

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The attached image shows the driverside suspension spring, and i arrowed the bolt i think it is saying to remove, but wont the spring be under pressure and thus expand !!! i tried to get the coil compressors onto the springs but they are too big for the job.



so my question is can this just be undone or do i have to get a different set of compressors before removing the bolt?

Thanks

Stu

Stu,
Don't think you need to remove the shock absorber bolt to take the wishbone out.
You do need to lower the subframe a bit. Undo the rear mounting bracket on the side you are working on and slacken off the other side and front mounts. Think you have to uncouple the steering rack from the column too. This will allow the subframe to drop enough to get the wishbone bolt out. Its just a matter of then undoing the top and bottom ball joints.

Sundance

Thanks Sundance,

I undid the subframe and the steering rack, the subframe drops about 1 to 2 centimeters, others have said that the damper needs unbolting to allow the subframe to drop enough to get the wishbone bolt out.

stulish wrote: Thanks Sundance,

I undid the subframe and the steering rack, the subframe drops about 1 to 2 centimeters, others have said that the damper needs unbolting to allow the subframe to drop enough to get the wishbone bolt out.

I managed to do mine without undoing the shock absorber. With the car jacked up and wheel off, the shock absorber and spring will be at full travel anyhow, so no advantage in undoing it.

Sundance

For safeties sake, I hope you have your car supported by something far more substantial than the horrid little scissor jack I can see?

Before doing any jobs in or around the underside of your cars, even if it is a pain to do so, always, always, always make 100% sure that it is safe to go underneath.

There are a couple of links I found useful when I did my front wishbones here's the thread.

https://www.the-t-bar.com/forum/9-mgf-tf-pitstop/93923-wishbone-replacement#166594

stulish wrote:
so my question is can this just be undone or do i have to get a different set of compressors before removing the bolt?

Thanks

Stu

I have just done my wishbone, but can not for the life of me remember if I removed the two bolts from the shocks! Its an age thing I guess

In answer to your specific question, you do not need to compress the spring to remove the bolt. The spring is held in its current state by the limit of the extension of the shock absorber, so even if you remove the shock completely, it will not extend any more. The shock is holding the spring compressed.

If you remove that bolt, the suspension arms will drop, but the shock will stay there.

Buzzy-Beans wrote: For safeties sake, I hope you have your car supported by something far more substantial than the horrid little scissor jack I can see?

Before doing any jobs in or around the underside of your cars, even if it is a pain to do so, always, always, always make 100% sure that it is safe to go underneath.

Yeah i have a hydraulic jack jacking the car up and axle stands under other parts, that scissor jack was just used under the sub frame to lower it rather than let it drop as i undid the bolts.

Thanks i will be back out there tomorrow as the weather is supposed to be good, well not raining anyway.

Cheers

Stu

Well thats one done, quick dring then the passenger side to do

Well afte 8 hours of blood, sweat and tears i managed to get them replaced, the old ones really were bad:



I did forget one thing though, i didn't conntect the steering back up before tightening the subframe back in place, so will have to drop it again to get the steering connected back up

Good work there Stulish!
:broon: