I've finally got my 12 set up in place ready to drop the front end and do all the shocks, joints, bushings, brake discs etc but was looking through the manuals last night and didn't find a sequential 'official' way to do it anywhere, just info on the brakes, steering, suspension etc which is all useful.

Has anyone seen a sequential run through in any of the books?

 

Hmm. I haven't, but I haven't really dived into my dealer service manuals that much. I'll give them a once over this evening and report back if I find anything!

 

I just completed mine yesterday. At least the front. Didn't follow any manuals really. Its not rocket science. The rear is next. Feel free to PM me if you need any help. Here is a quick video I did showing some of the struggles:

 

Here is a few more I just uploaded that might be of some use to you. I was pretty nervous about compressing the spring but my tool held up well. I did use a new nut each time as they come in packs of 5. I think if I ever use the tool again i'll use the reverse side as the threads look like they are a bit worn after 4 uses. Keep a close eye on that dowel pin for cracks or bending each time after use. I wasn't able to find the right anti sway bar bushings. I have ordered some for an X350 that I hope are big enough. The old ones were in decent shape so i'm driving the car with them on until the new ones come in. Easy enough to pop those on later. Here is the part number for the ones I'm trying: MNA2102DA Its just one letter off of the ones listed for the XJ12.

 

A few things I struggled with but didn't talk about in the videos. One of my lower fulcrum bolts was very hard to remove and I ended up damaging it and it had to be replaced. If you run into this don't try to hammer it out with the nut on the tip like I tried. Just use a breaker bar with a socket and get it to turn a little back and forth and keep working on it until its lose enough to lightly tap out.
Also don't torque down the fulcrum bolts until the weight is on the front end using jack stands under the spring plates. This was my first suspension job and I almost did it wrong until someone explained to me the twist at the arms is actually in the rubber and not around the bolts. I know that's pretty basic but I didn't get that concept at first. Also don't do like I did and put the calipers back on the wrong sides. Nipple should face up and brake hose on the bottom. Took me a while to figure out why I couldn't get the brakes to bleed properly haha. Take plenty of reference photos before you tear it down to make sure you get the bushings back in the right side and the arms back in the right way. The arms have a curve in them where they attach to the cross member. These curves need to go inward on all the arms. Hope that makes sense.

 

Very useful @johnBaker, thanks!!

 

The rear suspension long fulcrum bolt I removed some at the salvage yard to harvest the X308 crossmember for mine

By letting the suspension hang ( wheel removed ) using the along the side body chassis jack points the long bolt can migrate aft and clear the trunk floor pan

By using an impact gun on the rear bolt head ( 19 mm impact grade socket and can double check as have extra fulcrum bolts in the garage ) spinning the bolt it migrated aft and out

Do not use a hammer or brass drift in the front of the long fulcrum bolt as this will compress the threads on the Fwd SHOULDER BOLT threaded end

This is a pic of a example off the net




A oversize open end wrench pulling or forking the long bolt aft may help along with soaking with penetrating oil a couple of days ahead

May want to do this on car as it is holding everything in place and not as an assembly on ground getting away from you

Takes 10 minutes if it works out easily

 

Great video. One thing I'd recommend for anyone embarking on this is to check your upper starter motor bolt while the suspension is out, you have a bit more access from above.

This guy has some good 10 year old video xj40 suspension videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT2...uRm8BItUBisv0A

 

The upper starter bolt would be more specific to the V12 as the inline 6 the starter is higher up ( just guessing as I don't have the V12 ) against the firewall transmission tunnel sheet metal seam joint

This requires on the inline 6 for the engine block to be tilted and lowered leaving the fwd engine mounting point alone sitting on a not removed large front cross member . This is done by loosening the transmission cross member but not removing but sitting on a alligator jack

Time to check the transmission cross member for cracks

Mine was cracked in 2 places but found a brand new one in the factory rapper on Ebay

V12 / supercharged inline 6 different transmission cross member part # then normally aspirated inline 6

I have not determined the manual transmission crossmember but a clue can be obtained from Jeep or GM truck with the Getreg transmission

 

I put up a pdf here about extracting the v12 starter which I had to cut out. The upper bolt is a shlalow headed inaccessible 12 point/E18. (I think it's actually a 12 point socket but an e18 bites into it better to get it to move). Because it's anchored in the bellhousing the heat cycles tend to seize it in. The problem is the bolt headis pretty delicate and can require a lot of force to get it loose.
If I was going to do this job again I'd get the car up high on a lift after jamming a socket onto the bolt, putting a 90 tooth ratchet on it with an extension tube breaker bar to try and break it loose. I had to cut the top dog ear off mine in the end to get it out. Bottom bolt is easy.

 

Here is a parts list for anyone who wants to build the tool I used. Also wrench is

 

At 4:45 which ratcheting wrench did you use John? Looks like a good long lever, longer than mine

 

You can hook a box end wrench on the end of the socket wrench to get more leverage

This is limited to the quality of the tool male insert into the socket not twisting and failing

The socket can also split and loosen letting loose upon the bolt

Use a leather glove to protect your hand will travel and study how it can come loose from the box end / socket wrench if you get the straight line angle off a bit

If you have a round stock ratchet wrench you can inset it into a pipe

The bottom bolts on the stamped cross member my take a impact gun to break il loose with time to let some pernitrate work

That way you are straight on

You may not be able to have a box end arrangement being offset by the height of the socket work because the force angle peels your socket away from your bolt

With the bolt on a box end and the open end hooked into another box end will give you more leverage without the height of the socket


But if the hooked in open end / socket angle gets too far off it will collapse on you

Then again leather gloves

Take time to study how you hand will travel if the setup collapses

 

@John Baker Did you decompress the springs before doing anything else? Seems to me the brake rotors give you some physical protection on the way down. I've now got a tool using the exact same parts spec as your listing (thanks!). Did you use the m8 200mm locator rods to guide the spring plates down or just release all the factory bolts and ease the tension out of the spring without guidance?

Not clear if I have to remove the down pipes to drop the front subframe, I assumed I was going to have to do that, but in your video they are visible in place?

My assumption is
springs out
slacken off the wishbone fasteners
dissasemble remove brake rotors etc
disconnect steering
drop the subframe

I have just got the spring tool organized, had a good look around under there (dirty!) and taken photos now the car is up and ready. Put penetrating fluid on everything I could see.

I used a harborfreight engine support bar at full width chained to the two lift eyes on the engine. I will probably attach a chain to the bar from above also to take pressure off the bodywork. The feet fit neatly into the rain channels.

Got sidetracked putting a huge engine back in a Ford Ranchero for a friend but back on this again now

 

I left the spring job until i had nothing else I could do. No strategy with that, just dreaded doing it. I can't think of any reason you couldn't do it with the brake rotors in place other than clearance with the ratchet. I did have to remove the sway bar and release the shocks from the bottom before doing the spings. Might not be a bad idea to release them from the top too. The shock was jamming up and not letting things move freely until I did this. Get the tool on fairly tight before you release the spring pan bolts. I was surprised when my pan suddenly jumped down after releasing the rear two bolts. No big deal the tool held just not the transfer of energy I wanted. On the other side this didn't happen because I had it real tight before removing the spring pan bolts.

The down pipes are no problem and can stay in place. Of course you have to remove the steering rack from the cross-member but I'm sure you see that. Id do that first and get it out of the way. Its a real pain getting access to the bolt that attaches to the steering shaft. Don't forget to unplug the sensor wire off the rack before dropping it. Also that same wire is tie wrapped onto the cross-member. Cut that before you drop the cross member. and don't forget to release the engine mount bolts first with a T50 as well. Otherwise the mounts are defiantly coming out in two pieces. After you get the springs your gonna want to take everything else you can off of it to make it as light as possible to move around. With everything off of it you can pick it up by yourself.

I only used the two 8mm when putting it back in place to line up the holes, releasing they are not necessary.

I guess I got the wrong engine support bar. Is yours designed where all the weight is on two weak looking bolts? It just looked like a bad design. I wouldn't hesitate to use a bottle jack and some wood from below. It really worked well.

 

[QUOTE=olivermarks;2457386]

Put penetrating fluid on everything I could see.

I used a harborfreight engine support bar at full width chained to the two lift eyes on the engine. I will probably attach a chain to the bar from above also to take pressure off the bodywork. The feet fit neatly into the rain channels.

/QUOTE]

Thanks

 

I don't bother with the bolts on big engines, just use chains off the bar. I'll take picture next time I'm on the car again. I'll support from below too w bottle jack

thx for responses in haste

 

Sure no problem.

A few issues I ran into in the rear suspension to watch out for:

The spring compressor I rented from autozone was too big. I ended up cutting the bolts down on a set I bought to about 6 inches in length and that worked. Otherwise the bolts will be in the way when you go to remove the spring assembly.
After struggling on the first side I finally figured out a good process and the other side went smooth and quick. First release the top four pan spring bolts. Opposite of what you would ever do on the front!! But once you get the tool on you don't have good access.
Then release the lower shock. Be careful doing this as the spring will suddenly push the lower arm down. Its not a ton of force but just be ready for it. The spring will finally decompress enough so there is space to get the compressor tool inside the springs. You might not have to do it this way if you have a smaller tool. The tool is two piece so one on the front and one on the back side with the nut facing down so you can get a 19mm socket (my tool used this at least) to wratched down the spring enough that it will clear. Of course you will want to first remove the caliper and speed sensor so that the whole assembly can be pulled out. Also take note that the spring only fits in there one way due to the shape at the bottom. You will see what I mean after it is removed. So make sure it goes back in the same way. My shocks bushings were really bad! But the other bushings on the frame all seemed to be fine so I left them alone. I guess the rear end of the car doesn't get abused as bad as the front. So I only replaced the shock bushings and what appeared to be the factory rear shocks. The bilstein shocks I bought had all the bushings included. You will need to buy the upper spring pan "insulator" as jaguar calls it. Mine wasn't too bad but defiantly a bit compressed down so I am glad I changed it. Rear appears to sit a bit higher now.

Other things to do since its easy access now is change the differential fluid and check the breather on the back of the differential. Looking at the "breather" to me it seems more like a blow out pressure relief valve than a breather. I didn't see any holes where it breathes but maybe they are well hidden? Once you gently remove the larger cap which just pries off, there will be a smaller cap that fits tight in the breather tube. Mine was blown out and inside the larger cap (larger cap is there to contain the smaller cap from leaving the car I guess?) and had been leaking a bit for a while leaving a stain on the back of the differential. Not sure what causes it to blow out. I used a pipe cleaner to verify the tube was clean and clear and just snapped it all back together. Then cleaned off the stain with some brake cleaner. Will have to keep an eye on it and see if it blows back open. I only found two grease joints to lube and that was it. Ohh and don't add anything like limited slip differential additives to the fluid as our cars don't have this. I just used simple 80W90 gear oil. Takes two bottles but my pump wasn't getting it all out so I used a bit of a third before it was full.

Overall a much easier job than the front and could be done in a day with all the parts on hand or a professional could probably do it in a few hours. That is if the rest of the bushings look OK like mine did.

 

Alignment came in and front great but rear out of camber. Both need to be adjusted to be more negative camber. Looks like the XJ6 guys have the same issue which they say is from spring sagging. So if you still have the 3mm shims from the factory on the differential output "half shafts" you probably want to bump them up to 6mm which is part number CBC480660 @ about 50 dollars each. Not suppose to stack them. Wish I had done that while I had everything taken apart. Learn from my mistakes