29 replies to this topic

[screech]

in the process of building up my rear subframe, i am about to fit the radius arms and am un sure where the big washer and rubber thing go.

Thanks.

[TimS]

it goes on the end of the bolt if its the one i think and the rubber over the top. got a couple of pic of when i did mine

[TimS]

:tongue:

[TimS]

:tongue:

[screech]

but does it go on the shaft first or in the hole and then on the shaft? :gasp:

[TimS]

goes on the shaft sadly my cars over 70 miles away so i cant looks at it for refrence but mine went on the shaft

[Pavel]

I got the same screwdriver

[Dan]

The 'big washer' (it's a thrust washer, it takes all the sidewards loading through the suspension and it also spreads the grease into the bearing) goes on the end of the radius arm, with the grease groove against the arm if it only has the groove on one side, some do some have both. The inner and outer thrusts are different, do check before you fit them and get them in the right places. The rubber band fits around the outside of the thrust, keeps it in place and seals the grease in whilst also allowing the grease to escape if the pressure climbs too high inside the bearing due to heating or over greasing. It's a very clever design (except for the stupid needle bearing). Then you fit the whole arm, bearing and thrusts into it's brackets and secure it with the spring washers and nuts.
Use the new, good, genuine, substantial spring washers not some nasty bendy Halfords ones. If you loose a spring washer get new genuine ones.

[screech]

thats brill cheers, whats the difference from the 2 thrusts?

[screech]

iv sorted it!! :grin: Thanks all
now, now the radius arm is on, do i want to torque it up or do it once the sub is in and do it in the 'rest position?'

[Dan]

You could well torque it up now if you want, it makes no difference at the rear as the arm has a proper bush which can rotate under load. The front lower arm is the only one which needs to be loaded up when torqueing (is that even a word?) as it is a rubber bush which cannot rotate around once it's squeezed in, so it gets damaged by being twisted when it's loaded up if it's in the wrong place when tightened.
But if the frame is off the car, it's much easier to fit the frame first and then fit the arms to it as it will be a lot lighter without them. If the frame is fitted then you're fine to fit the arm to full tightness.

[screech]

and once torqued up, should i be able to move it up and down easily? as i did it to 72nm and it was ft!!!

[Dan]

It should move very easily, it certainly shouldn't support it's own weight. Did you fill the bearing tube with grease yet?

[Jammy]

I've recently done exactly this and I was wondering how to fill the bearing tube?

[Dan]

You pump it in through the grease nipple once the arm's built. You need a good grease gun (which you need if you own a Mini anyway) and a lot of grease. You will have to refill the gun at least once while you are doing this if you do both sides from empty. If you just keep on pumping it for ages though it's likely that the tube has split so you should really investigate what's going on inside.
Without the grease the thrust washers will be, well, thrusting! So there will be a lot of force against the end of the arm casting which may be what's causing the tightness.