My disco doesn’t dance properly
because the bushes have gone
on the upper and lower wishbones.
I’m gonna just replace the arms
and put polybushes in.
The rubber boot on my dampener is mangled,
as well, so I’m gonna replace that.
This is my entertaining look
at changing rear suspension arms.
Okay, so I’ve sprayed all bolts with penetrating oil
But I think they’re so rusty that
I don’t think that’s going to help.
Before I can get the arms off I’ll have
to remove these brake lines
and the ABS sensor cable.
I’ve just put a G-clamp on this flexible brake hose
Now I can undo this without it leaking out everywhere.
To stop it dripping everywhere I made these
which is a short bit of pipe soldered shut at the end.
Take the pipe off, screw this in its place
it’ll stop my brake fluid dripping out everywhere.
Okay, next. Take the upper arm off.
Here we go!
This is the sensor that measures the suspension height.
So I’ve got to take this off without breaking it.
Just pop that away safely, out there.
Next it says, mark the position of the bolts,
here and here.
But if I’m putting a new arm on,
what’s the point of marking it?
It’s so rusty anyway.
Rusty indeed
Because no matter how hard I tried
I just couldn’t get the nut undone.
I’ve sawn through the first bolt at the knuckle.
But even without the nut, I still can’t
get the bolt out.
It’s stuck fast.
If you’re doing a lot of hammering
I think you should use earplugs.
I think you should sell them to the neighbours - earplugs.
Then I can hammer it all day long.
But I didn’t just hammer it all day long.
I hammered it for the entire weekend.
Well it’s beaten me this weekend.
Now it’s time to pack everything away
Go to work for the week, back again next weekend.
So, I’m currently two hundred miles away
from the problem and I’ve been thinking;
I shouldn’t have started it. The problem
is, I have no choice now.
So I headed to a place to have a chat
with an old friend
and the advice was to keep on going,
removing bolts around it
eventually a solution would make itself apparent.
At the end of the week I jumped on the train
and headed back to Swansea.
Standing room only for four hours!
Right, this is the beginning of week two doing this
and I’ve already got another problem.
My 24mm is not deep enough for this
and I don’t have a spanner big enough.
So, I’m going to have to go and buy one.
If I have to come here again
I’m going to be so cross.
Right, I’m back.
Got a 24mm and it fits
Just.
So let’s see how we get on.
Once I’d broke the rust on the nut
it took me a good few turns to realise
I’d forgotten to hold the bolt
which was spinning on the other side.
Right, I’ve made some progress.
I’ve managed to take the nut
off the bottom of the dampener.
The bottom knuckle joint is not moving
at all.
I’ve had my feet on it - pushed
Nearly knocked the fence over.
So, I’m going to do the top one
and fold it down to give me better access.
Hopefully.
We’ll see how that goes.
So, this needs to be undone.
The problem is, I can’t get a socket in
because the socket is too tall.
I’ve got to do it with a spanner
but I’m not strong enough.
Luckily the mechanic that fitted these before me
wasn’t strong enough either
and the nut came undone without any effort.
I’m not having any fun now.
It drips down my neck.
This one came out really easy, it’s finger-tight now
And the other one is really rusty
and that’s what I’m undoing now.
It’s a good job that I don’t have to hold
that with a spanner as well
because I wouldn’t be able to do it.
This is the last… the last tool that fits.
There’s not a lot of room in here
to get my propper sockets in
so I had to use my smaller sockets.
It’s getting easier!
Or I’m getting stronger.
Just the outside was rusty
but it was stuck like you wouldn’t believe.
But, no, it’s not much fun.
And I’m tired and I want a beer.
Don’t relax so much! You have to fix it tomorrow!
Right, it’s day two
and I loosened the bolts yesterday.
Today, my problem is that I can’t get the bolts out.
This one slides out the easiest
but the air compressor housing gets in the way
which is annoying because now
I’ve got to take that off.
Oh dear.
One pivot bolt - Removed.
I still can’t get the other two out, despite
the whole arm being loose
wiggling it about,
hitting it with a hammer
They’re just not moving at all.
I’m only halfway through that one bolt
and I’ve already used up that whole blade.
So I need to put another blade in
to finish the other half of that cut.
I’ve only got five blades.
I haven’t got enough blades to do the job.
The good news is,
when the blades are new
they cut really quickly.
I’ve cut through one side of that bolt.
But I’ve got a little problem,
because it bent my blade when the bolt went.
And now the part you’ve all been waiting for!
The bolt that everybody has trouble with.
Despite there not being a nut on the back
this bolt will just not come out.
So I’ve come up with an idea.
When you undo it
the captive nut just pulls off.
It goes “Ch-ch-ch” and then drops onto the floor.
What I’m going to do is,
I’m going to put the captive bolt back, G-clamp it
and see whether that will allow
the bolt to unthread and pull out.
This just doesn’t make sense,
putting the bolt back!
It took me ages to get it off.
I hope this works.
And after all my hard effort, I was rewarded
With disappointment.
Because the bolt didn’t come out.
Which meant only one thing…
Now, with the arm cut in half
you can simply fold this part down
moving the bracket out of the way.
Without the bracket, you can
get the saw in to cut the bolt.
I have one blade left.
Worst case scenario, I’ll come back next week
with a hundred saw blades.
Not even halfway through.
With the last blade ruined there was
nothing left to do but pack away
and face another trip to work
on the world’s most expensive public transport.
So at the moment I’m two hundred miles away
from the problem and I’ve been thinking
about a solution.
And then, just as I was going to pay,
this fell off the shelf - 24mm.
So I took it as an omen and I bought it.
Annoyingly, I’ve missed the delivery
of my bush press
they’ve left it at the pickup point,
which is five miles away.
There’s no bus to get to this place
it’s in the middle of nowhere
which is just annoying.
They could have put it the local town
or the local city, which are closer.
No, it’s five miles away in a village
in the middle of nowhere.
So I’m going to have to go there
in a taxi and get brought back.
Hahaha, right, thanks a lot.
It’s cost me £20 in a taxi
to get there and back.
So yeah, it’s getting expensive now.
I’ve got all the tools
to fix every car in the world.
I hope.
I haven’t.
Meanwhile, the postman had delivered
a fresh assortment of saw blades.
Carbide tipped for extra cutting power.
As recommended on the internet.
But the internet was wrong
because these blades might as well
have been tipped in chocolate
because they didn’t last long at all.
Now Land Rover knew about this fault
when they designed the car.
Because, once you’ve sawn through the bolt
the other half just simply slides out
of this pre-cut sliding slot.
It’s off. Three weeks!
There we go.
Now, with the arm fully removed, it’s plain
to see why the bushes need replacing.
And also why the bolt wouldn’t come out.
That is not supposed to be stuck to that.
I’m still left with the problem
of getting this bolt out of the knuckle.
Despite heating it up the bolt still wouldn’t
come all the way out.
Bolts are made of medium carbon steel
a metal alloy comprised of roughly 98% iron.
When exposed to air and water
iron corrodes and becomes rust.
Molecules of rust are approximately
six times bigger volume
than the original metal.
So when a bolt gets rusty
it grows in size and gets stuck in place.
Applying heat will cause thermal expansion
but the rusty bolt has no room to expand.
This is called Constrained Expansion
which puts stress and strain onto the bolt.
With rust being brittle and flakey it will break first.
This graph shows that to expand by as little as 1%
the bolt needs to be heated to approximately
600 degrees Celsius.
The burning temperature of
this MAPP gas flame is 2020°c.
When the bolt becomes this silver-grey colour
it has reached a temperature of around 500°c.
This glowing cherry colour means it’s reached 600°c
which is enough to break the bond.
It worked! Ha ha. I don’t believe it.
To my surprise the drop links
came undone fairly easily.
This is annoying me because
you buy a set and they always miss one out
and it’s always the one you bloody need.
Ratchet spanners.
There isn’t an 18mm in my set of ratchet spanners.
It goes up to 19mm but skips 18mm over.
Droplink - done.
After all the trouble I had with the top one,
the bottom one is finger-tight.
With all the excitement of easy-bolt-removal,
my brain decided to take a rest.
Right, I am one bolt away from getting this off.
And you’ve just seen
I have snapped the last remaining ⅜”.
Because it’s not strong enough.
The reason being
it requires a 21mm socket
and as I’ve explained
I don’t have a 21mm ½” socket.
It’s gone a little bit.
Using all my strength and none of my brain
I continued to tackle the bolt.
Don’t tell me I’ve got to take the exhaust off now.
I was unstoppable and prepared to break every
tool in my toolbox to remove this bolt.
Ow. I’ve munched another one and my arm.
The last tool I have that’ll do the job.
I’ve smashed another one.
Tired, but still enthusiastic, I was not going
to beaten by this last remaining bolt.
New blade...
It’s not even touching it.
But enthusiasm alone was getting me nowhere
because this arm doesn’t fold out of the way
so I still couldn’t get my saw to the bolt.
Mentally exhausted and physically drained
I decided to call it a day
and resume the job at first light.
But not wishing to wake
the neighbours at such an early hour
I decided to tackle something quieter first.
Look at this. When the suspension arm’s
gone up it’s just torn it open.
Luckily I bought a new one.
I think you can just cut this.
You can.
When the suspension arm goes up
I think this bit of rubber might just drop out.
I am running out of saw blades.
I thought I’d bought enough to saw the whole car in half.
Obviously not.
Steady and slow.
Christ! That’s scary.
With my new relaxed approach to bolt removal
And the soothing sound of electric power tools
my brain began to reboot.
Oops.
Knowing I was getting closer to fitting new
parts, my brain finally came back online.
Well, I was nearly at the end of my saw blades
and I thought I’d give it one last chance
with a spanner.
Weirdly enough the bolt has now started to undo.
However, I am most of the way through the bolt
so I’m hoping it doesn’t snap as I undo it.
Because if it does I’m back to square one
and I’ve got to start on the bolt again.
It wants to go in. Yes.
Phew. Right. So here endeth another weekend.
Stuck again. As usual.
This time I can’t get
the shock absorber back onto the arm.
I don’t know how and I don’t want to break it
and I don’t want it to explode because
it’s full of high pressure air inside.
It might go bang.
So that’s that.
See you in six days time.
Okay, I’m about two hundred miles
away from the problem and I’ve been thinking
that either I’m the most unlucky person
on the planet with my Discovery
or everyone on the internet is lying
about how long it takes.
Because I’ve been doing this for four weekends
and I still haven’t finished.
And I’m still using public transport.
So, I’m two hundred miles away
from the problem and I’ve been thinking
about that bolt that gave me so much grief
snapping all my tools
breaking all my saws.
I was tightening it up instead of undoing it.
I spent all that time
and I was just turning the bolt the wrong way.
Right, I’m about two hundred miles away
from the problem and I’ve been thinking
This one’s in Kings Cross.
It’s open twenty four hours a day
so I can come here whenever I like
Amazing.
Right, I’m back
and I think the answer to my problem
is to depressurise this
so I can push it back up
and align it with the lower arm.
And to do that I’ve got to undo this air pipe on the top
which I’m not very happy about.
It’s easier to undo it from behind
because you can get quite a lot of movement
through this little hole here
and you can see it better.
I can hear it, hissing.
It seems that all the air is out now.
Oh, it fits nice there now. Right.
Yes! Got it on.
That was a tricky little one.
And now I’ll just turn my cutters into pliers
so I can squeeze this tight.
And with the air-shock deflated
the dampener can be moved up, down,
left, right, backwards and forwards
so you can get the bolt back in.
Oh yeah, and one more thing
Don’t forget to tighten the air line back up.
I've put this one in already.
Put that side in first, then wiggle this one in.
It’s through.
Bang on!
The suspension has been reassembled
and another day has finished
leaving me with only the brakes to tackle in the morning.
Right, it’s close enough, for now.
Done.
Now the Land Rover is really high off the ground
and has a long way to come down
because remember, this shock absorber
still doesn’t have any air inside.
So, two hundred miles away from the problem
and I have got the dilemma of
do I do the other side myself
having completed the first side
or do I send it off?
I’ve bought the tools to do it myself.
And I have discovered this
a 21mm podger wrench
which will allow me to get a bar over the end
it’s a ratchet and it will,
if I believe correctly,
fit on that rear upper arm bolt.
At lunch time I went out to buy some of this,
because I can’t get it at home,
and while I was there I found one of these!
the illusive 18mm ratchet spanner.
Okay, we’re not off to a good start this
week
because the last tool I used last week
was the 22mm socket to tighten my wheel nuts up.
The first tool I need this week is the
22mm socket to take my wheel nuts off
no 22mm socket anywhere to be seen.
I don’t know what I did with it.
I’m normally so careful with my tools.
With my experience from the other side
and all the tools in the world
I hoped to get this side done within one weekend.
The 21mm podger wrench didn’t fit.
But if you ground it off you’d get it in.
I haven’t got a grinder so I might take it to someone and get it ground off if I have to do it again.
Luckily I’d remembered to replace my
broken ⅜” breaker bar.
And I’d also bought a 21mm ratchet spanner.
This is the illusive 18mm ratchet spanner
which was missing last time.
Okay, after the wheel nut debacle
everything’s going well.
The first three bolts are off
and now I’m going to have breakfast.
This is fantastic.
I’m so happy.
So, so, so happy.
Well, all went well yesterday.
Everything came off really easy
and went on really easy
until I got to the cambolt.
And the Cam didn’t fit in the area on the upper arm.
So I left it
and I’m going to tackle it this morning,
but I have no idea how to do it
other than chisel it out. I don’t have an angle grinder,
or a Dremel or anything like that.
Right, so that was a success.
I’ve managed to chisel out a little bit of metal
and the cambolt now fits in and it works as well.
It goes up and down, just as it’s supposed to.
Now let’s take a closer look at the parking brakes.
I first made sure this spring fits,
because some of them don’t.
Then I fitted it to the cable
fitted the spring.
Lubed up.
Put the spreader bar in.
I levered the brake pad over
the spreader bar and clipped it up.
This spring’s easier to do on this side,
because it’s on the top.
This is the tension adjuster,
it comes in three parts.
The adjuster pushes the pads apart,
making them tighter inside the drum.
I just added a little grease to them.
Lever out the pad and drop
the greasy adjuster into place.
They’re adjusted with a screwdriver,
tighter, looser.
But it has to be done with the disc in place.
Align the hole to where the adjuster is and
poke a screwdriver in there.
Then I checked the tension using my torque wrench.
Then I loosened the adjuster as per the instructions.
Then make sure the pads are sat nicely and I’m done.
And the last bolt, the most fun of them all.
Okay, press the brakes please.
Okay, so the car’s back on the road and it is fantastic.
The suspension works.
It doesn’t float up and down and left and right,
like it used to.
And since I’ve had the wheels aligned
it drives in a straight line,
which it’s never done
even last time I had the wheels aligned
it never drove this straight and smooth
so really really happy.
Driving to London saves me a fortune over the train.
And when I’m stuck in traffic
the fuel economy is fantastic.
I can do this all day long. I love it.
And I love it so much I drove and drove and drove.
Five hundred and twenty five miles
to the Scottish highlands.
So I’ve taken a little drive to Ben Nevis
to test out my suspension and it seems okay.
Yeah, it makes a bit of a squeaky noise
like rubber, a rubber squeaky noise
when you go over bumps
or raise or lower the suspension.
But it works. Yeah. I’m happy. I’m happy.
Until the next thing breaks.
So I’m still two hundred miles away
and I’ve been thinking
that the money I’ve spent on public transport
probably equates to an engineer
or a mechanic fixing the car for me
and I’ve just wasted all this time
and I could have had a car.
