I am going through the rear end of my 150,000 mile 2002 Xj8. When ordering parts I was told in no uncertain terms that there are no bearings on the inner end of the rear wishbone/lower link/swing arm thingy. The outer has taper roller bearings which I have encountered when removing the hub to change wheel bearings, but the inner end where the arm attaches to the diff??? Surely there must be something? The bolt can't just run in the casting?

 

Rubber bushings, two in the pendulum thingy, and two in the rear carrier (part 6) in the diagram. When i rebuilt mine there was no way to get to the rear bushings as the long bolt (part 2) through the a-arm is rusted in place for good. The four in the front pendulum were easy to replace once i had the subframe apart, but that was a job and a half in itself.

 

Brilliant - many thanks.
I will sleep on this information. I haven't taken the whole axle out yet. I am working on sloping concrete and I don't like getting under it really...

 

Whoa, yeah, be super careful under there Paul. I am always very nervous working under vehicles on jacks. I always have at least three hydraulic and two solid jack stands, plus two wheels chocked,, and on even ground, before I will go underneath, and even then I'm nervous!!!


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So I got the axle out without dying or anything... Indeed there are bushes in there and equally the long bolts were nicely rusted in place. Oxy-acetylene cured the rusted-in-place situation and bushes pressed out easy enough.

I am slightly disapointed that the bushes look just fine, I was expecting them to look very tired but not so. At some point the vehicle has had an XJR axle fitted so perhaps the rear doesn't have a huge mileage on it, which raises the question why does the vehicle wander? As I had rebuilt the front suspension about 20K miles ago I assumed the rear bushes were sloppy allowing it to 'steer' from behind (worlds fastest fork lift truck-kinda). Maybe it's the steering rack bushes, I didn't change them... Any ideas?

 

Paul, I'm assuming you've had an alignment done, by someone who knows what they are doing? Wander is often cured by front wheel caster adjustment (as well as correct toe-in/out). Incorrect rear ride height can affect front caster

I would think worn steering rack bushes would clonk in opposite lock postions, and over bumps.


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Many thanks for your kind input so far and apologies for the slow reply, life got in the way...
My gut feeling is that it isn't an alignment issue. I can't wait to drive it to see how it is - this is a job I have wanted to do for a couple of years... If no better I will have to think again.



I now have all the parts except the diff oil so I can make a start on re-assembly on Sunday. I have all genuine Jaguar bushes (sport spec where appropriate) and genuine GKN U joints. The only non-genuine parts are the 'A' frame bushes (the big ones under the cills ahead of the wheel) which are polyurethane.


One question: does the orientation of the inner wishbone bushes matter? They have little 'bumps' moulded on them which makes me wonder if they should be positioned in a specific way - a bit like the standard 'A' frame bushes are?
Also: does it matter what oil I use in the diff - it isn't an LSD so can I use 90 weight gear oil like in my Defender diffs?

 

Hi all
It's taken a while but we are back on the road again.
The nasty clonks and rattles have disappeared and the car seems to steer better – you may remember that it had a slight tendency to wander. Overall a wonderful improvement but…Unfortunately it isn’t all good news; there is a new clunk when going from over run to power and vice versa which I believe to be the prop shaft UJ. With the vehicle on level ground, handbrake off and trans in Park there is an audible clunk from under the car when rocking it back and forth. Assuming it isn’t a driveshaft (half shaft) that I have messed up I fear it must be the UJ adjacent to the centre bearing on the prop shaft…Does anyone have part numbers for both the centre bearing and the prop shaft UJ? – might as well do both I suppose. The car is a 2002 XJ8 based in UK.

 

Hi 'Paul in Sussex', Paul in the North East UK again. Seems you're doing very similar to myself about 18 months ago, I did everything under the car, front and rear everything from bushes to bearings to joints, but still mine wondered and moved to the right when heavy breaking. I did front and rear on a sloping concrete floor outside too!

It tuned out to be front sub-frame mounts, the left side being completely shot and separated from the car, the right side not much better, the whole thing moving as I braked. Check out the postings on 'What did you do to your Jag today', think about page 153/4 (ish), you can see I have posted a couple of times about what I found.

The sub-frame isn't that hard to get out, just make sure you have the car high and on a solid pair of axle stands, and an extra pair somewhere for good measure.

Let me know, or PM me if you want an email address.
Paul

 

Paul,

A week or so late in responding, maybe you already have the info, but check out this forum link, and scroll down to post #2630
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-84298/page66/

The center bearing/bushing is available from Powertrain industries (part #3080-25), and the UJ is a common part # you can get just about anywhere, just google it and plenty of sources will come up. I would advise replacing the two flex couplings, and the rear trans mount while you are there.


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