Xantia rear strut clip removal

[RichardW]

Following on from yesterday's leak after the sphere change, I have been trying to remove the strut. Not going well, and now completely stuck....

Got the pin moving with a pin punch, however, after about 5mm it went solid again, and after many goes at straightening out pin punch and trying to drive the clip out, the shaft broke. Have tried getting vice grips on the back to pull but no go, then I tried filing a sort of access way in the trailing arm - looked good so I cut the end off an allen key and put it in, seemed ok, gave it a few smacks - no movement of the pin, but the allen key is now firmly wedged in the hole, and has resisted all attempts to remove it so far So, can't go forward, can't go back. What next? Does it actually need to come out? Can the cylinder and push rod be separated? Can the arm be removed with the strut (or just the push rod) still in place?

Wishing I had just put up with the hard ride now.....

[Peter.N.]

Hi Richard

Oh dear, been there, done that, I had to cut an XM suspension arm in half as a result, hopefully you wont. I had a similar problem getting one out of my C5 yesterday, I eventually shifted it by placing a large punch on the projecting end and hitting it hard with a large hammer, fortunately it shifted.

Is the inner end broken off as well or can you cut it off leaving enough to hit, if you can do what I did and place something between it and the hammer, that way you will do less damage to it and get a bigger shock which might just move it. Otherwise you will have to use a suitable good quality punch about the same size as the pin and hopefully knock it through, try it from both ends if you can get there. Failing that, if part is still projecting one end, weld a piece of tube or a bolt with a hole drilled in over it, this will give you more purchase and the heat will very often loosen it.

The fact that it moved a little sounds hopeful, mine had rusted solid, persevere and you will probably shift it. I now have to go out and see if I can get the practically disintegrated ABS sensor bolt out of the hub so I can take the arm off and fit new bearings.

Peter

[citronut]

sounds like your having lots of fun there NOT Richard

it might be possible to remove the arm with the push rod still attached, but it certainly will not be possible to remove the cylinder whilst the arm and push rod are still in place, as the cylinder has to come out forwards,

loads of PERCY WHAT SIT is required
hope you beat it

[RichardW]

Thanks Peter. I got the allen key out, but all that allowed me to do was hit it with various other drifts and punches, and getting some heat on it, eventually culminating in me getting the broken off bit of the original punch stuck in the hole. It moves up and down, but it won't come back out - I can only assume it is bent inside the hole. There is no access to the back side to hit it back the other way, and attempts with vice grips just slide along the pin.

Concluded that the arm has to come out, so the only question really is can it be done without having to cut off the cylinder push rod?? Martin from Plaeides alludes to it in a thread I can't find again just now - might give him a ring tomorrow.

The design on the Xantia is poor here - part of the arm casting obscures the hole, and the hole in the side of the subframe does not allow direct access with a punch either (in the other plane!) - a little bit more thought when they designed it (a channel in the arm casting and a dip in the subframe), and you would have been able to get direct on the end of the clip, and almost certainly driven it out first go!!

[citronut]

as i said above Richard
i think the arm will come off with the push rod still attached

dont you have an angle grinder/curb stone cutter

[lexi]

Many synpathy's. I am going to have a lie down............My head is splitting listening to all these friggin Xantia problems

[citroenxm]

Its not so much a design fault for not being able to hit it out but more a fault for the two meatals that is the Release clip and the strut end corroding together. . The idea IS that the R clip should and is supposed to simply pull out .. nice and easy. .

So far every xm one I've done they have pulled out just like that.

You could seperate the piston from the strut head after boot removal but it might render the strut useless. Yes the strut only comes out one way ..

[NewcastleFalcon]

Richard

If you haven't seen my tribulations with the rusted in pin have a look at this thread

xantia-rear strut anatomy

It was ultimately successful.


If you can do it, I would persist with trying to get it out in situ.

Regards Neil

[addo]

Roll on, plastic bodied cars.

Is it possible to make a jig to guide a long series drill bit in removal of the rotten pin?

[Mandrake]

Many synpathy's. I am going to have a lie down............My head is splitting listening to all these friggin Xantia problems

I'm also gutted for you Richard, I never had the slightest inkling that something like that would happen when we tried to change those spheres.... Definitely a major disappointment after a long, hard but otherwise successful days work on the other two cars...

I don't know how you managed to carry on working on it today, I'm so stiff and sore all over today I could barely move this morning Fit I am not!

Don't give up, I'm sure a bit of perseverance and thinking outside the box will get there in the end!

[Peter.N.]

I had to cut the push rod in half with the grinder and even that wasn't easy, I was replacing the cylinder anyway so it didn't matter. At least you can get to both sides on the C5.

I managed to get the ABS sensor bolt out but couldn't move the sensor so have had to cut the wires, if I had done that in the first place I could have saved half an afternoons work. I now have the arm off but can't get the centre tube out - rusted solid.

Peter

[RichardW]

It's not coming out in situ - I have already expended the best part of 6 hours trying that I think the end of the pin must have mushroomed in the hole and / or the angle of the punch is such that I'm not really driving on the pin - I was giving it a reasonable amount of welly, but it just laughed at me! I found the comment from Martin at Pleiades in your thread Nigel:

As Jim states, you can remove the arm with the rod attached and then sort it all out on the bench.

So on with that tomorrow evening. At least I have done the rear caliper bolts so they should come out easily. I'll try and undo the boot clamp, but I suspect a stanley knife will be the best option. I presume that the rod is not actually fixed in the cylinder, it just flops about anyway. The ARB bolts look like they might be a bit stubborn, and the thread on the through bolt is pretty rusty.

I was very tempted to ring the scrap man this afternoon....

[Peter.N.]

Now don't be like that - you will get there - eventually

[RichardW]

Yeah, but the earache when SWMBO gets back and has no car to ferry the kids around in will be worse than the pain of the removal work!!

[citronut]

the push rod dose just sit into a nylon seat it the back of the piston,

if the boot clamp will not undo just cut the clamp bolt through in between the clamp jaws, this will allow the clamp to open and release the boot,

probably cheaper to replace the clamp than the boot