After finally getting the frozen torx bolt broken loose, found the bushing is frozen to the bolt. Spreading the bottom mount apart, & into the forward lower arm, instead of backing out. Bolted things back up, so car can be driven. Question is will the shock drop out after unbolting it as well as the lower rear arm, as well as brake caliper unit, or does it require more disassembly? Have another set of arms to bolt in with the rebuilt shocks. Will replace the worn bushings, so the old ones can be reused, at a later time. But want to finish the job, on both sides, next time it goes up into the air.Appreciate any input from those who have ran into this issue b4 me

 

I was told last year by the head mechanic at a local Jaguar independent that used to service my cars, (they packed-up in January but were very good), that they had often needed to remove air shock unit and straight lower arm together. They then would carry the combination to the workbench and apply various "techniques" to separate the two. This often included thin grinding wheels and/or hack saws to cut the securing bolt, and allow the shock unit to come off the lower arm. Clearly when this is necessary a new lower shock bush and bolt is needed, but replacing the bush is the reason for the job, so not much extra in parts, but a lot more in labour charges.

The lower arm is an aluminium forging and it is important to not damage it in a way that could be a source for a crack to start. So great caution is needed when doing the job.

 

Question is; Should the whole unit be dropped, or is there enough room for the shock to drop down through when the arm is unbolted? Have ran into the situation where dropping parts as a unit, is a better way of disassembly. Would like to know the best plan of attack, b4 jumping back in. This time would like to see just how well R M T did, rebuilding the set of stock shocks, they rebuilt for me.Have a new set of arms (after market) to put back in.

 

Hi Wingrider,

I think the answer is that you will have enough room to remove the air spring/damper when the arm is unbolted. You may be able to visualize what will happen with the lower arm and such by watching this video from Arnott Industries:


Cheers,

Don

 

I followed the Arnott video when I replaced the front strut on my 2004. It dropped out just fine. I was lucky nothing was seized. There are several YouTube videos on those as well. I have not had to do the rear yet. Knock on wood. I think there should be enough room to remove the assembly as you have described. You may have to have it up higher than I did but it sounds as though you have that planned for as well. Good luck.

 

The problem here is the lower shock bush and securing bolt are seized so the shock unit and lower arm needs to come off together. As far as I know this will drop OK once the relevant bolts securing the arm are undone, and the arm released from the outer ball joint, but I'm only going on what I was told at the shop, I haven't done the job myself.

 

I believe that there will be enough room for the lower arm and the strut to be dropped out, as a unit if the vehicle is high enough. I thought the video referenced was to show how the strut area looks as the strut is removed if all is well. Although I have not done it on a bushing in an aluminum arm I have removed frozen rubber bushings on lower contron arms before by setting them on fire and letting them basically burn themselves enough that I could hammer them out. (That was before I had a press.) Probably not a good idea on these arms though.

Here the local parts yards (junk yard to us old guys) have lower arms for $75.00 each. If I had to pay a shop to remove the bushing, I may look at one of those. Of course you do not know what was done to it prior to purchase.

 

DonB; Have watched this video B4,& you appear to be right,as far as having enough room.Appreciate your pointing me towards it again, to see without putting things back up into the air, what i'm in for. Looks like the brake assembly, taken loose, & hung out of the way as much as possible. Disk, with the Knuckle off, as well, should clear things out well enough to avoid needing any extra vertical space, to disassemble things.

 

Well finally got to the job at hand, what a pain. Has anyone else realized the front shock bottom bolt is now longer than it used to be??? Needed to find an extra thick 9/16'' washers, tear it all apart again, (or hack the ends off, not acceptable) so as not to hit the forward lower arm. The good news is all back together now, & it feels much tighter than before. Alignment feels good but steering wheel is now tilted toward the passenger side a bit. Will turn each side towards the rear if my thinking is right to turn the steering wheel to the left. Then to re bush the old arms after shocks are removed. If the rebuild holds up, for another 100,000 miles. Just might send them back in again, as they do feel pretty nice, compared the old ones with 99,529 miles on them. To their credit, the old ones off the car were not leaking air, but were just not near as tight as the rebuilds now are.

 

Pleased to read you finally got it sorted. What did you have to do to separate the shock from the arm ? Well done BTW !

 

As of yet they are still attached, with both of them are setting over in the corner laughing at me.The people on here are always helpful, hope to return the help, in kind Just ordered a set of bushings for them, if they fit, press in, as i'm hoping they will. I'll order a set to press in the 04's arms, as they were not replaced, with that set of shocks. Those shock bolts both came loose with no issues, never thought of the bushing being shot.

 

Those shock bushes are the components that last the least amount of time out of all the bushes in the suspension, and it's not hard to work out why. Each shock has a lower bush which, frankly, is fairly small, yet these four bushes take the whole weight of the car !

Yes they are inexpensive and the rears are easily replaced, the fronts more involved, but even so, I would like a suspension that didn't need work doing every year, year in, year out.

 

Has anyone else had issues getting those darned bushings out of the arms???? Can't seem to catch the outer portion of the bushing, to press mine out. None the sockets, or pieces in the C clamp press outfit will work. The closest socket to fit, tilts to one side or the other when cranked on. One cane apart leaving the outer shell still in the arm, still leaving the other one set till this one is out. Had to cut the bolts, on both sides of the bushings, (tuff little buggers) to get the shocks free from the arms, but they are still fighting me, every step of the way. Guess it remembers the law of tooth & claw, from the jungle.

 

If the center of the bushing is already pushed out then a hacksaw blade should fit thru the center. You could cut a slit thru the outer layer of the bushing and pry it away from the arm hole.

 

OK, thought of that one already, but by using a dremel tool, on opposite sides to collapse it in. The other one has started to deform, but it is still holding together, with the cut out part of the bolt, welded into it by rust. So looking to find a way to press the old ones out, in a single effort, as I plan to use the same method, to press the new ones back in, then i can do the job while the arm is still mounted in the car. Never Sized the lower shock bolts before reinstalling the old ones, with the new Arnotts shocks install last year, so they SHOULD back right out of the 04, when this issue is finally solved. Then any time the front shock bushings need replaced on any Jaguar using these arms, it can be done a lot quicker, easier, and still on the car.Simple, basic, home made specialty tools, from odds & ends, laying around the shop, are always some of my favorite tools.