Trig Posted July 17, 2006 Report Posted July 17, 2006 Hi my 1999 TDi has failed on one of the track rod end ball joints having excessive free play and one of the rear coil springs being incomplete and not correctly located.I am considering doing the repairs myself. I have a joint splitter, axle stands and a couple of car jacks. Is it fairly straight forward to replace these parts? Is there anything to be wary of?I got a quote for the parts and was asked if I needed the 'pig tail' or 'heavey duty' spring. How do I tell the difference?Thanks :( Quote
Masked Marauder Posted July 17, 2006 Report Posted July 17, 2006 Yes, it is easy to fix both your self. With the car jacked up and the damper off there is little or no tension in the rear spring. You tell the spring type by the colour. If it is BLUE then it is Standard, YELLOW & WHITE is Sports and VIOLET is Heavy Duty Quote
Trig Posted July 17, 2006 Author Report Posted July 17, 2006 Is there a minimum height that the car needs to be raised to on the axle stand, to allow the spring to come off? Quote
Masked Marauder Posted July 17, 2006 Report Posted July 17, 2006 No, if it is high enough to get the wheel off then it is high enough to get the spring out. The damper prevents the trailing arm from traveling far enough for the spring to fall out on it's own. You may need to take both the dampers off to get the arm down far enough though. You unbolt them from the chassis before you jack the car up off the ground. If you can get the car high enough then you don't even need to take the wheel off..... Note that the car must me on the ground before you finish tightening the damper to chassis bolts. Quote
Masked Marauder Posted July 17, 2006 Report Posted July 17, 2006 When I say take the dampers off, you might manage with just one bolt out of each. Quote
Trig Posted July 18, 2006 Author Report Posted July 18, 2006 No, if it is high enough to get the wheel off then it is high enough to get the spring out. The damper prevents the trailing arm from traveling far enough for the spring to fall out on it's own. You may need to take both the dampers off to get the arm down far enough though. You unbolt them from the chassis before you jack the car up off the ground. If you can get the car high enough then you don't even need to take the wheel off..... Note that the car must me on the ground before you finish tightening the damper to chassis bolts. I think I am missing something here. :huh: I thought i would be able to jack the car up just at the position of the spring that needs changing, support with axle stand (where is best?)and just release the damper adjacent to it. Why do I need to release the damper on the opposite side? Quote
Trig Posted July 18, 2006 Author Report Posted July 18, 2006 rearsprings.pdf Thanks. Just had a look under the car and I can see the anti roll bar connects the 2 trailing arms :huh: Quote
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