Front suspension - Removal, strip, rebuilding and refitting

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The Arch Bishop

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Dec 22, 2010
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I take no responsibility for any injury or damage caused by the following of this guide. It has been written by an amateur home mechanic and may contain omissions and mistakes. I recommend that you have a copy of the Ford Fiesta 1995-2002 Haynes manual for reference as the layout and procedures are very similar to those used on the Puma.

This guide covers changing the front shock-absorbers, springs, top mounts and bearings. The springs that I used in this guide are Eibach 30mm drop springs which were a dealer-fit option and are very close to the original Ford items. The shock-absorbers are KYB gas struts. The top mounts and bearings are also KYB and are sold as ‘mounting kits’ to complement their shocks.

Once the car is on axle stands with the wheels off, this task comprises of only four fastenings. I had an easy time of it as these parts had been removed within the last two years. However, if the parts have been on the car for a long time, the nuts and bolts can be very hard to remove. A decent breaker bar and a quality socket set are essential to help reduce the possibility of rounding off the nuts. Ford fastenings are not the best quality…

One note is that the top nut on mine was very easy to remove hence the choice of an open-ended spanner in the pictures. The ideal choice for removing the nut is a swan-necked ring spanner. Check the size of the nut before you buy anything as I’ve heard of a few different sizes being used.

The size of the Allen key used for the shocks also can differ between Ford and after-market parts.


Removing the struts

Begin in the engine bay. Remove the plastic top mount covers which are held in place by four clips around their circumference.

With these off, insert a 6mm Allen key in the top of the strut. Then use an 18mm spanner to loosen off the top nut while holding the Allen key to stop the push-rod spinning with the nut.


The theory is that it is easier to loosen the nut before you jack the car up as the weight of the car takes some of the strain off the nut.

Now loosen off the wheel nuts a few turns each.


Now jack up the front of the car on side using the jacking point. When the car is high enough, place an axle stand under the chassis and lower the jack until the car rests on the stand. Repeat on the other side.


Remove the wheel nuts and the front wheels.

Using a 17mm socket, remove the anti-roll bar link from the shock.


Using a 15mm socket, remove the brake hose bracket from the shock.


Using a 19mm socket, a decent breaker bar and an extension, remove the pinch bolt from the hub carrier where it clamps the bottom of the shock-absorber.


Get underneath the car and locate the gap in the clamp and, using a large flat-edged screwdriver, lever the clamp apart.


I then sprayed some lubricant around the top of the clamp and went for a cuppa…

Now for the hard bit! There are two methods that I used to remove the shock from the hub carrier.

First way is to use a wooden drift and a soft mallet to hammer around the top of the clamp.

Second way is to slacken the top nut in the engine bay right off, hold the brake disc down firmly and use the mallet to whack the bottom of the spring base upwards.

Some decent swearing was also useful but it may take a mixture of the two methods interspersed with liberal dousing in spray-lube and spreading the clamp with a screwdriver to finally release it. Persevere and it WILL come off!


Now you can remove the top nut entirely, remove the top weight and vibration mount and wiggle the strut assembly out of the wheel arch.

 
Stripping down the struts and rebuilding

Note before you start - If you are stripping down both struts, are reusing your existing springs and have only two spring compressors - strip and rebuild one strut at a time. This saves time on the most time-consuming part of the process which is compressing and releasing the springs.

Begin by attaching spring compressors. Due to the short design of the front spring, you will need to have one compressor that goes from near the top of the coil to the near bottom and one on the other side that does the middle of the coil.


Wind up the compressors evenly on both sides a little at a time. You can stop when the top spring seat feels loose.

Warning – when the springs are under compression, they are very dangerous! Do not muck about with them and treat them like a grenade that may go off. Or something equally scary…

Using an 18mm spanner and the 6mm Allen key, undo the push-rod top nut. This will most likely be quite stubborn. I found putting a length of metal tube (in my case a box spanner) over the Allen key provided enough leverage. Remove the nut and keep.


Remove the top bearing and check for play and smoothness of operation. The price of these from Ford is fairly reasonable so it is worth buying new ones for peace of mind.

Remove the top spring seat.

Remove the spring. If you are planning to refit the same spring, keep the spring compressors on and ready for refitting.


Unhook the large rubber dust gaiter from the plastic hook at the bottom and remove.

Slide off the rubber bump-stop.


This is what you should have!

 
Rebuilding front struts

Slide the bump stop (in this case the one that comes with the Eibach springs – The ford one is black as shown in the strip down above) on to the push-rod. Leave it at the bottom of the threaded section.


Slide the dust gaiter over the top. The bump stop will stop it from dropping down to the bottom. Pull the bottom of the dust gaiter down and hook it over the white plastic hooks.


Take your pre-compressed spring and place it on to the shock lower spring seat. The spring needs to have the tighter coils at the top.

Ensure that the end of the spring sits against the step on the seat as per the image below.


Now take the top spring seat and put that on top of the spring. Again, ensure that the end of the spring sits against the step on the top spring seat in a similar way to the bottom.

Take your bearing and place that on top of the top spring seat. I added a smear of grease between the two but I’m unsure as to whether that is strictly needed.

Spin on the push-rod nut.


Using your Allen key to stop the push-rod spinning, tighten the nut. The Fiesta Haynes manual states the torque setting as 44 lbf ft.

You can now evenly slacken the spring compressors. Keep checking that the spring ends are against the steps on the top and bottom spring seats and rotate the spring or top seat to achieve this if needed.

Remove the compressors, sit back and admire your handy-work or get cracking on the other side if you’re doing both. Go on! No slacking! :)

 
Refitting struts

Place the rubber top-mount over the top of the strut.


Clean out the inside of the hub-carrier clamp and spray some lube oil in it.

Also spray some lube around the bottom of the strut.

Manoeuvre the strut under the wheel arch so that the top of the push-rod protrudes out of the hole in the engine bay and the bottom of the strut sits on the hub-carrier clamp.


Rotate the shock around so that you can push the anti-roll bar link through the bracket on the shock.


Rotate the shock so that the fin on the back of the shock lines up with the cut-out in the hub-carrier clamp (sorry – couldn’t get a camera in there for a picture but it will make sense when you are doing it).

Now the fun starts! This will either go easy or hard. The first side took me many hours to get it to sit properly down in the clamp. This was because I didn’t really know the techniques! Huge thanks go to STEAVIE at http://www.performancepuma.com for the tips on getting this done. The second side took me 15 mins!

First, using a sturdy screwdriver, spread the hub-carrier clamp as much as you can.

Next, place a jack under the wish-bone next to the ball-joint as per the image below.


Jack up the wishbone to compress the strut. I did it until the wishbone was level with the ground. If all goes well (as it did on the second side for me), the strut will move down into the clamp. If not, using a hammer, tap the hub-carrier around the clamp to get it moving. You can also use the hammer on the bottom of the clamp.

Eventually, you are looking for the hole in the fin at the bottom of the strut to line up with the bolt hole on the clamp.

Once you’re there, give yourself a pat on the back. The worst is over!

Insert the pinch bolt into the clamp and tighten to 63 lbf ft torque (stated from the Fiesta Haynes manual). Haynes also recommend that the bolt is torqued after the car is back on its wheels, but it looks nigh-on impossible to get to the bolt then.

Fit the nut on the anti-roll bar link and torque to 37 lbf ft.


Fit the brake hose bracket and the nut and tighten.


Working in the engine bay, slide the strut-weight cup over the top of the push-rod…


…and the strut weight…


…and a shiny new strut top nut…


Using the Allen key to stop the push-rod rotating, torque the top nut up to 35 lbf ft.

Refit the plastic top weight covers.

Refit the wheels and wheel nuts, and jack up the car to remove the axle stands and lower the car to the ground. Tighten wheel nuts and you’re done!


Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback or need any clarification then please let me know. Any improvements that you suggest could help out others!
 
I found it relatively easy (10 minutes total) to get the strut back in the hub carrier this way:

Do not reconnect the drop link and brake hose braket. Wrap a strap around the back of the strut and out over the 2 brackets. This passes under the hub carrier, forming a fairly tight loop. Now put the car's own jack horizontally inside that loop. Now with a bit of lubrication on the end of the strut start winding the jack out. Do this slowly! Once a bit of tension is built up, ease the clamp open gently using a suitable tool. If you put too much pressure on the strut may insert itself in one rather dramatic go!

The advantage of this way is that the force pressing the strut home is in line with the hole.

The disadvantage is potential danger from the strap failing. Remember to keep the brake hose and ABS cable out of the way to prevent damage.
 
>Using the Allen key to stop the push-rod rotating, torque the top nut up to 35 lbf ft.

How do you do that as a torque wrench only takes standard sockets, I've not seen an adapter from a torque wrench to swan neck ring drive ...

Puzzled
Dave
 
Great howto The Arch Bishop !

Can I grab it (the pictures) to make the same on french guides I'll trying to collect ?
 
Just finished one side after major grief. Ended up taking off hub, fitting in shock absorber then refit complete.

For whatever reason, couldn't get leg into hole in hub,once had hub off, was doddle to refit. Other side just going to drop out leg and hub and not bother with the faffing around.
 
tuonokid said:
[post]357859[/post] I used my spring compressors which makes it a lot easier.
Barry

I tried that, but my compressors are a bit chunky and space is fairly limited. Top mount bearing was completely shot and old shock just pushed in and stayed in :eek:
 

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