Been gathering parts and bits and pieces for this for a while, and some leave from work has provided me with the opportunity to dismantle my rear suspension and replace all the bushes, tie rods and links. Airbags and dampers are OK, but these are the easier items to remove!

At this point a big shout out to Dan Roberts at Duckworths for his patience and support with parts.

Much inspiration came from member fisha who already tackled the hub bushes with this howto :
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/post140711.html#140711, so I'll refer you to that for hub bushes extraction and replacement.

I'll do costs when done, would love to know how much from stealers ?

Any comments or suggestions need to go in the sister thread for this how to:
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic17428.html

I am hoping to resolve:

1. Clonking at the rear
2. MOT advisories on top outer bush and subframe bush
3. Excessive tyre wear on outer edge
4. See if the FBH Fuel pump works
5. Something to do other than fannying about with the A/V

This will be a work in progress, so keep checking back, and please offer advice and tips as I go along

Tools

Acme Wood Ramps (optional)
Various Wood blocks
3/4 Axle stands
2 jacks (trolley and bottle will do)
Inspection Lamp
16" Breaker bar or similar with extensions (trampoline legs! or old old ring spanner)
I use both 1/4" and 1/2" sets of sockets and ratchets
Ratchet Socket spanners
Sockets mm: 8,13,15,17,18,21(long and stubby),22
Sockets in: 13/16 (equals 21mm), 11/16 (optional)
Spanners mm: 12 (open), 18 (open & ring), 21 (open & ring)
Socket extension bars, short, long and UJ
Allen Key mm: 4
Hammers: Hide/Rubber, Clump
Screwdrivers: flat bladed (mainly for cleaning out dirt and rust)
Hacksaw (for reference marks, also could use permanent marker, and for destroying tie rod nuts)
Wire brush
Bush Pulling/Pushing Kit!
An assistant (optional!)

Sundries

WD40
Green Sandpaper
Gunk (for degreasing silencer)
Kurust
Hammerite
HT Paint (3 x cans of Halfords best needed for good cover on exhaust)
Superglue
Duct tape
Length of rope
Kneeling/Prayer Mat
Coffee, Tea, Nicotine and Beer for afterwards

Time: X days !! (It's a big job, so leave plenty of time, and remember there IS more to life than a Range Rover!)

I'll use a combination of Rave images/drawings and my own photos to assist with explanation on what is required.

Safety First: Never rely on a jack to support the weight of the car, use axle stands, and an extra one on the subframe as backup. Chock the front wheels, Leave car in Park with handbrake on. Probably not a good idea to run the engine when up on stands.

Any comments or suggestions need to go in the sister thread for this how to:
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic17428.html

Last edited by Joe90 on 25th Mar 2013 1:02pm. Edited 2 times in total

1. Get the car in the air.

Using my Acme wooden ramps and 3 tonne per corner axle stands I was able to gain a good 2ft in the air at off road height. This made working on and under the car much easier. Took a good old rev of the engine, in reverse, to get the car up on all four ramps at the same time. It is a 1 in 3 slope.



2. Remove the exhaust

This is recommended for replacing the subframe bushes and for removing the upper suspension arm.

Simple instructions from Rave: undo two nuts (15mm) holding exhaust to manifold. Yes, if you can get a spanner onto the nuts and turn the things! There appears to be lots of space up there, that is until you try to undo and remove these two nuts. Eventually got them undone. Allow time for this, walk away a bit, have a cup of tea.



Centre fixing is a 17mm bolt. Undo it, push the exhaust out of the way and refit it, can't lose it or misplace it that way.



Eight nuts (13mm) holding the silencer on to fixed bolts. Some will be seized, and the slightest pressure will see you with a nut and some thread in the end of your socket. I scored 5 out of 8. Hoping I can slip some new bolts into position to retighten, save having to buy new mountings.



Rave suggests an assistant at this point, no-one about to help so gently dropped it down on blocks of wood bit by bit, then dragged it out from underneath towards the front of the car. This will get a derust, Kurust and HT paint treatment before it goes back on



That got me to lunchtime! See all the space at the back now the exhaust is out of the way! (It looks a little lop-sided, but it is all square, odd camera angle!)



3. Dismantling (Started on LH rear)

Following instructions in Rave, it seemed to make sense to remove the lower suspension arm first. Got to work with the wire brush and then a liberal spraying of WD40 to help things along.

Undid the two allen key ( 4mm) fixings for the brake pipe (this is useful to do at this stage), and the one allen key (4mm) supporting the handbrake. Also unclipped the brake pad sensor cable.



Undid the 13mm nut and bolt holding the height sensor to the lower arm.



Undid the 18mm nuts holding the anti roll bar link in place. The flat on the joint side is also 18mm. These b.u.g.g.e.r.s are tight and difficult to get at. For the one on the lower arm I was able to get a ratchet and socket on the nut, and found the best position for the spanner to be tucked inside the brake pipe against the upper arm. The one on the anti roll bar was a bit more tricky, I used a socket extension to attack the nut from behind the arm (centre of the car) and managed to wedge the spanner inside the brake cable. As soon as you start to get loose, keeping the spanner on the flat is a bit hit and miss. There is a washer on the lower link only. Rave believes it is important to note the position of the washer, it is hardened. fortunately, it will have the marks of the "flat" on it.

Got an earlier start today, out there by 0830

1. Removing Lower Arm

First job, get the bolts out of the lower arm nearest the diff. The bolt is an (18mm) and the nut a (21mm). Access pretty good for these. I find things work best if I get the whole thing turning, then start to undo the nut.



(Don't do it this way! I advise remove the air spring first as shown in Rave, as one of the first things you do)
Left the bolts in place to drop the outer end down to release the air spring spigot. everything is pointing in the wrong direction for this to happen easily, you just have to keep pushing the lower arm down. I used a short extension to tap the spigot (great word, spigot) out of the lower arm from underneath. Eventually, lower arm swinging free of the air spring.



Jiggled and wiggled the bolts out and was presented with the lower arm. Only surface rust, with the plastic coating mostly worn away. Odd as the RHS is still all covered ? This will get the wirebrush, kurust and hammerite treatment.

Upper side

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Had a few other real world things to do today so not a great deal done, but time consumed by problem ball joint!

1.Acme Bush Puller?

Well no. I made up my own bush pulling kit from an old car jack and some bits of pipe and sockets for sleeves.



But it just wasn't man enough for the job, so I shelled out for a proper bush pulling kit:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400430820571?ssP...1423.l2648
This is worth the money if you are DIYing a lot

2. More derusting

Tiresome, tedious but necessary, have a good clean around on the parts of the subframe you can get at and scrub with wire brush and green sandpaper if you want, then apply a coat of Kurust.

3. Tie Rod

Restrain ball pin. Yeah, thanks LR. The pin at the end of the ball on the hub end has a 10mm hexagon on the end, when new. When been on the car for 5 - 10 years, a tinsey winsey 10mm ring spanner will just go round and around.



Nothing for it but to destroy the nut (21mm open ended and ring spanner needed here). Hacksaw out, hammer and cold chisel at the ready. I cut a diagonal all the way round, and with a tap from the hammer and cold chisel the nut started moving. Restrained the ball pin with some mole grips and away we went.

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Bush pressing kit arrived today, so set to work on pressing out and replacing all the bushes on the hub, the arms and the subframe. It is a lot bigger than the ebay picture conveys, ( I put a standard Stanley Philips screwdriver in shot to give scale) case is @ 48cm wide by 40cm deep, and weighs @ 40lbs. As impressed as fisha was - the mutts nuts!!

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1. Finish Removing Lower Arm Bushes

Rearward
Pressing out: Inner 48 mm Outer 58 mm

No struggles or cracks, just heave-ho!

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1. Hub Bushes Replaced

Straight forward and an easy press for both top and bottom bushes

For top bush, identify the side of the bush with the chamfered edge, you push in this first!

Bloody cold today, snowed on me several times


1. Repairing broken exhaust mountings

On removing the exhaust, I broke two of the threads off on the subframe mountings. These threads are a press fit into the mounting. To fix:

Support subframe and undo bush bolt to remove exhaust mounting. Clean up with wire brush.


Using a hacksaw or grinder, remove any remaining thread to get a flush surface.

Click image to enlarge

Joe your a legend I kind of follow what your doing as it seems complex but I admire your persistence with such a big project  Present :2008 TDV8 HSE
Gone Audi A5 2.7TDI
Gone Discovery 3 HSE
Gone Mercedes CLK
Gone Range Rover 2.5 DSE

Took a day of rest today, fed up with spending all day on my knees in the freezing cold.

Been thinking about how to tackle the right hand side, and will most likely do this in stages. In many respects this may be of more interest, as taking the whole lot apart at the same time is quite a task and time consuming. Now I know what can be achieved I will probably tackle the top half in one go, and then the bottom half, and replace the other parts as I go. No need to remove the exhaust, no need to drop the subframe, but will no doubt be easier to depressurise the suspension, especially if removing the lower arm. I will need to get this all done soon, as I have to sort out a four wheel alignment on these new bushes and bolts.

As for the subframe bushes, I need to get some parts made up for my pressing rig, then I should be good to go.

Road Test on work so far:

All clonking gone from rear but now identified clonks up front, looks like new drop links required up front now

TBC .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Damn I have an air leak.

Car all down on LHS this morning. Started up, no messages, and compressor brought it back up, goes to Off Road OK.

Left it in Std height and the rear left is dropping by 2cm an hour. Can't hear any hissing at all, and can't feel any air escaping from the RL connector.

We'll be having it apart in the morning!

[EDIT]

Sorted this out, got to the airbag connector and found it needed @ 3 half turns to tighten up properly. Don't know what I was thinking first time round! All tight as a drum  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Took on the Rear Right today with good weather promised for the weekend. Didn't get started until @ midday and finished @ 8pm. Most items appeared to undo much easier on this side as compared with the rear left, or I've got stronger! I took quite a different approach this time, based upon what had been learned from the other side.

Simple jacking this time, just popped the rear right up in the air, axle stands under rear support and towbar for safety. Used IID Tool > Service/Test Valves/Just Rear Right/ (-) to release air from airbag. To be honest, this doesn't work for me, still lots of air in the bag, more on which later. However I do like the disable EAS function, you do at least know the car ain't going to try to be clever and adjust heights once activated.

After jacking and "releasing air" rested the hub/drum on some wood blocks to support the suspension.

Started by releasing the allen screws holding the brake pipe, and brake cable, then released the ABS and pad sensor cables from their clips.

Made reference marks on the upper hub bush mounting and the inner tie rod mounting. Note: this didn't help much when putting the LHS back together as car seems to drive sideways like a crab, hence the need to sort out the RHS and get it off for some wheel alignment - pronto!

Then started working my way around all the nuts and bolts that needed undoing, but leaving in place.

Released the lower ARB nut and cleared the ball joint from the lower arm.

Removed the Height Sensor just to stop it getting damaged.

Removed the spring clip from the top of the airbag and the screw at the bottom, the latter which broke off leaving the thread behind in the spigot ( )

Tie Rod ball joint nut again impossible to remove with spanners so took the hacksaw and cold chisel to it once again to release it.

Started to remove the upper arm, to come across the first problem specific to the RHS rear. The rearward bolt comes out to the rear over the airbag, but on the RHS there are additional clips and tubes in that area. No amount of wiggling the upper arm would create enough space, so it looks like I'll have to drop the subframe a bit to get clearance. This also gives me a chance to have a look at the FBH fuel pump. Think I'll put the upper arm inner bolts back in the other way round so this won't be a problem next time.

Note: undoing the upper arm inner bolts is a tedious flat at a time affair, just not enough space to get a ratchet in there and use it, and these fangled self tightening bolts do their stuff on the way out too!

Lower arm removal had problems because too much air in bag, airbag started to extend without releasing from its mounting locations, as I removed the inner bush bolts, so stopped at this point. Note: the forward inner bush bolt is tricky to knock out as nowhere to knock it from!

Plan tomorrow is to drop all the air out of the system, car onto stands/blocks all round.

Other than that, a good day. .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Nice sunny morning 10 am start!

First job, stands and blocks for all four wheels, then IIDTool>Service/Test>Deflate All. I could here something going on but not loud exhaust valve blast. The three corners still on wheels stayed on the wheels and didn't drop onto the stands? Maybe because I have the height sensor on the rear right disconnected? Will have to have a chat with Patrick/SteveMfr about this?

So resigned to the fact that I will have to deal with a bodge job as per the left side with regard to the airbag, I then set about dropping the subframe to release the rearward inner bush bolt. Release exhaust mountings at rear and support exhaust. Jacks under both legs of the subframe front and back. Undo bush bolts until nearly out. Gently drop each jack. Got about 15mm which was enough to wiggle the bolt out. Banged it all up and back together.

Removed upper arm Derusted with wire brush.

Removed lower arm and derusted.

Removed airbag and connector, undoing slowly to release remaining air, not much but enough to cause problems! I think it might be that the valve closes again after the operation to deflate and what ever air is left is sufficient to cause resistance?

Inner bushes removal. (as per left side) Handy tip though - use science. The upper arm inner bushes are seriously tight in there, and no amount of banging on the housing or chipping away with the cold chisel would shift the first one. Solved this by turning the upper arm by 90 degrees then bashing on the inner leg. Crack! Out pops the bush by a cm. Continued with this method to remove.

Click image to enlarge

MON
A couple of hours this evening after work.

The ends of the circlip on the lower hub bush were tucked away on the inside, and nicely rusted in, so took a cold chisel to the outer edges until I made a breach, then it more or less fell away.

Lower hub bush out, clean up faces and bush housings and upper and lower hub bushes in. (So much easier than the inner arm bushes!)

Reckon I can get a self tapping screw into the bottom of the airspring spigot where the original broke off, so no need for a major fix.

TUE
Another couple of hours saw me putting everything back together, only loosely.

Sequence:

Mark up reference marks on new alignment bolts
Clean up funny washers for alignment bolts
Lower arm, inner bushes and hub connected up (all go in from below)
Fit new drop link to anti roll bar
Squidge down the airbag, re-attach connector (and tighten properly this time, hold pipe in pliers with jaws wrapped in cloth to help prevent tension in the pipe when tightening) and fit spigot to lower arm
Fit Height Sensor
Fit upper arm, inner bushes (fitted bolts back round the wrong way!) and hub (all go in best from above. Space gets tight doing this, take care with brake pipe)
Fit tie rod
Reconnect damper
Jack up underneath lower arm and fit lower part of drop link to lower arm
Locate knob on top of airbag into slot, and fit spring clip
Fit large washer and self tapping screw to airbag spigot, to replace sheared off original
Refit to clips the ABS and brake sensor cables
Refit the brake pipe and handbrake cable to upper arm

No dramas

WED

Raining, but needed to get the car back on the road. So out with the sun parasol!!

Tightening up 12 nuts and bolts and inserting a few allen key screws shouldn't take long, but it does, as for many of them you just can not get a ratchet going so it is turn by turn with a ring or open ended spanner. As darkness fell I was able to put the wheel back on and re-activate the EAS. The airspring popped back into place and all was well, holding height after several hours. Refitting new bushes on the RHS straightened up the steering a fair bit too

Still not quite figured out the correct routine to de-pressurise and re-pressurise the airbags using IIDTool......might also need to upgrade the compressor with Meerbusch's kit.

Sad to report I have not solved my clonking at the rear, so will strip out the interior in the back and test that and get tools together for subframe bushes. Hoping I won't have to drop the rear diff to sort those bushes out. MAybe it is the dampers causing the problem? I also have a clonk coming from the front so drop links and possibly track rods are next on the list.

[EDIT] "Rear" clonking resolved by fitting new FRONT droplinks  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

TOP WORK, respectfull I read the whole article..., it is the same kind of work like I do here in Germany, know it best, special the circlip and the rust..., so we will open a Range Rover Specialist Garage here in gemany, because here is no correct working garage... ) L405 SDV8 2017 + Lancia Flavia Coupe 1964 + RRS L494 3.0 SDV6 + C220CDI Convertible 2021