Xantia inner track rod joint (NS)

Post by **KennyW** » 25 Mar 2011, 18:36

Richard,

Can you confirm the type of Xantia again and year as i have 3 racks available which are no use to me now.

Kenny

Post by **RichardW** » 25 Mar 2011, 20:12

It's an HDi 110.

Tried and gave up again this afternoon

Looked like I was facing 2 hours or so to extract the bolts on the arm, so given that his was only half the job, and the garage armed with a windy gun will whip the bolts out in 5 minutes, I let discrection become the greater part of valour and booked it in for the joint and MOT next week. Hope there's nothing else.... rear NS is wearing on the outside, and looking from the back appears to be a bit of lean in, so trailing arm bearings might be on the cards too....

rory_perrett · Post by **rory_perrett** » 30 Mar 2011, 22:48

rory_perrett wrote: I'm wondering if one of these will do the trick? http://lasertools.info/item.aspx?cat=778&item=1107

Answering my own question, this laser tool will NOT fit, as I suspected the hole through which the track rod is supposed to fit is too small it is only 20mm.

Full marks to the Laser Technical Dept for responding to my email question within 2 days. There are two alternative tools (different sizes; one covering 25 - 35mm the other 35mm to 45mm, I think the Xantia joint IS 35mm) but at £80 ish a bit expensive, even if I'm going to do both.

thorter · Post by **thorter** » 31 Mar 2011, 10:36

I think I posted this before.

I made up a tool as shown in the photos which allows the inner track rod joints to be unscrewed and refitted in place. It uses 11 pitches of half inch cycle chain, and attaches to an ordinary three eights drive. The actuator part shown was made of black mild steel, but it really needs to be something stronger such as gauge plate. The small holes for the chain are as close together as possible, and there needs to be a removable pin which should be on the lower tension trailing side when using (therefore reverse before using to tighten).

To use it, just assemble round the track rod, and using a long socket extension, offer it up over the inner joint. Then manipulate it till it grips, and unscrew. You can see that the one illustrated was made in a hurry, but it allowed replacement of several joints before it eventually broke. The cycle chain seems plenty strong enough, so gauge plate, or a disk turned off a socket then shaped, should be satisfactory for the actuator.

Fred

rory_perrett · Post by **rory_perrett** » 31 Mar 2011, 13:46

Fred

That's a great help, I'm sure I can find the bits I need in the garage to knock together something similar.

Thanks

Rory

rory_perrett · Post by **rory_perrett** » 12 Apr 2011, 22:04

Ok did both track rods (and ends) on the Xantia at the weekend. £36 for the lot at my local factors (those guys are great). In the end I just removed the lower wishbones and turned the steering to full lock. Having pulled back the gaitor I could easily get in with some 10" mole grips and unscrew the steering knuckle. Under 2 hours for the whole job, both sides, glad I didn't splash out on the special tool now.

MOT on Thursday so fingers crossed!!

Post by **RichardW** » 13 Apr 2011, 08:05

Good work Rory - how on earth did you get the wishbone in and out in an hour???? After 40 minutes I was still struggling to get the nut off the front bolt - must invest in some sort of impact driver....!

Garage did mine for an hour's labour, including the tracking. Steering much more precise, and it's much quieter. Interestingly despite there being about 1/4" play at the wheel, he passed it on the MOT

For reference, the part number for the NS tie rod gaiter is not clear on service.citroen, but it's 4066 21 titled 'Steering protector'.

rory_perrett · Post by **rory_perrett** » 14 Apr 2011, 16:34

Luck possibly. They shouldn’t be that tight, the torque setting is 63 lb ft. I do give everything a good going over with a wire brush and soaking in WD40 before hand. Then it’s a good quality 18mm socket and a 3 ft bar.

Anyway, straight through MOT today, I’d even managed to get the tracking in tolerance but they adjusted it spot on. So £50 poorer but £86 in all to get clean bill of health on an 11 year old car that pushing 200k miles can’t be bad. The more I think about it the less I want to replace this car, not sure I really fancy a C5 and there seem are less and less Xantias around each year, especially good ones.