Axle refurb / lowering question

1. dturbo Infrequent Poster Joined: Jul 2018 Posts: 163

   #1 29th October 2018, 11:40

   Hi all,
   
   My VTS has already been lowered, looks about -40mm I would say. I have some play in the arm bearings, so I plan to remove the arms and see how the pins look. If they are decent I will renew the bearings rather than go for a refurb beam.
   
   I have read various guides and they suggest making a sort of jig once the shocks are removed, basically measure the distance between the shock mounting positions then make a jig so that when refitting the arm, you put it in that position then insert the torsion bar, thus preserving the ride height you had.
   
   I just wondered about something. surely in the resting position with the shock removed, the arm is placing some downward load on the torsion bar which will be resisting this (i.e. at the point when you measure the distance between the mounts). If so, then when you refit the torsion bar it will be unloaded - won't this then result in a slightly different ride height to what you had? Or is it insignificant?
2. Furioman Frequent Poster Joined: Jan 2004 Denny United Kingdom (Scotland) Posts: 666 Ford focus 2.0 Saxo VTS

   #2 29th October 2018, 14:35

   yes slightly different but probably not noticeable
3. MartinObviously Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Dec 2012 Perth Posts: 3665 Peugeot 106 1.1 Turbo Peugeot 106 1.5D Turbo Peuge

   #3 29th October 2018, 19:38

   Quote:

   Originally Posted by dturbo Hi all, My VTS has already been lowered, looks about -40mm I would say. I have some play in the arm bearings, so I plan to remove the arms and see how the pins look. If they are decent I will renew the bearings rather than go for a refurb beam. I have read various guides and they suggest making a sort of jig once the shocks are removed, basically measure the distance between the shock mounting positions then make a jig so that when refitting the arm, you put it in that position then insert the torsion bar, thus preserving the ride height you had. I just wondered about something. surely in the resting position with the shock removed, the arm is placing some downward load on the torsion bar which will be resisting this (i.e. at the point when you measure the distance between the mounts). If so, then when you refit the torsion bar it will be unloaded - won't this then result in a slightly different ride height to what you had? Or is it insignificant?

   That's why you do it properly.
   
   The distance for standard ride height is 305mm between the holes.
   
   it's a ratio of 2.5. so if you want to go 40mm, it's 40/2.5 which is 16mm. you want 289mm between the bolt holes.
4. dturbo Infrequent Poster Joined: Jul 2018 Posts: 163

   #4 29th October 2018, 19:47

   Quote:

   Originally Posted by MartinObviously That's why you do it properly. The distance for standard ride height is 305mm between the holes. it's a ratio of 2.5. so if you want to go 40mm, it's 40/2.5 which is 16mm. you want 289mm between the bolt holes.

   Hi Martin, thanks for the info. That's probably a better way to approach it.
   
   I'm not sure that doing it by precalculated numbers, rather than measure before removing the torsion bar and replicate that measurement before re-fitting it, changes the fact that the resulting drop will be a little bit different though, just that you won't notice the difference as you haven't tried to replicate what you had.
   
   Cheers
   Craig
5. MartinObviously Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Dec 2012 Perth Posts: 3665 Peugeot 106 1.1 Turbo Peugeot 106 1.5D Turbo Peuge

   #5 29th October 2018, 19:53

   Quote:

   Originally Posted by dturbo Hi Martin, thanks for the info. That's probably a better way to approach it. I'm not sure that doing it by precalculated numbers, rather than measure before removing the torsion bar and replicate that measurement before re-fitting it, changes the fact that the resulting drop will be a little bit different though, just that you won't notice the difference as you haven't tried to replicate what you had. Cheers Craig

   But you know how low it's going to be by calculations regardless fo what you had before.
   
   To be fair, unless you're using brand new bars it's not really going to matter if you're a few mm out or the weight of the arm