Keeping An Eye On Your Rear Beam

[dodsworth_gti 11]

grease is definatly not the answer. ill not go into it in detail as it has been covered allready.even if it could get into the bearings ect it would still wear down. i operate diggers ect and grease regually, but it doesnt stop things wearing down totally.also grease attracts any muck dust ect which can turn grease into a wearing past (although this probably woouldnt happen to much in a rear beam)

 

regular service highly cleansing and using a high quality grease would help alot

 

most grease you buy in the auto motive world is what we class as 10 hour grease,meaning it needs re greasing every 10 hours of work (dog turd basically)

 

our company supplys us with a 50 hour grease,lasts much longer and doesnt go off and thick and clumpy as quick

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

guys @ ssp engineering can sleeve old/worn tubes, they dont tend to do it to much as theres normally better tubes out there.

 

Did you used to work there?

There was a lad who was helping the owner when I popped down with my very seized 309 beam. He said he had a MI head and cams for sale

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I've saved all my dead beams for sleeving when the time comes, must have around 20 of the things now

[custard-rallye 25]

is this the answer???

 

http://www.imaxle.co.uk/catalog/oilite-conversion-kit

[Anthony 1,002]

Depends what the question is.

 

It should last well, but stiction is likely to mean poorer suspension performance than the original needle bearing setup.

 

If you do a search, there was a big discussion a year or so back about using different bearings and the pros and cons.

[stef205 92 1 Cars]

Did you used to work there?

There was a lad who was helping the owner when I popped down with my very seized 309 beam. He said he had a MI head and cams for sale

 

no i dont work there do abit for them etc. it wouldnt of been me with the head for sale, the guys there are more honda, must of been the last guy that left.

[Bovien 6]

Strip & replace seals etc on cambelt intervals, five years or 36k unless with uprated bars fitted every 3 years.

 

As already said, condition is impossible to know without stripping it down, just because it moves as it shuld & doesn't have excessive camber doesn't means all is healthy inside.

 

g

 

What kind of movement should there be in a trailing arm shaft for it to be good? I understand it kan seize, but I'n hot sure exactly what happens when it does. There would still be suspension movement, but then what has seized?

When the excessive camber happens, is it the shaft that bends?

 

I'm asking as I'm probably going to ge a salvaged beam, and I would like to know what to look after, to know if it needs any immidiate refurbishing. I'm only buying it if it is moved back to standard ride height, and if that is doable, I'm guessing it would show that it is in ok condition as the torsion bars wouldn't have seized, right?

[welshpug 1,646]

There should be no play at all, however should move up and down freely, when there is lateral play the shaft and bearing is worn, this causes the camber you see, however you can still have relatively normal camber characteristics and heavy wear.

 

A seized bearing/shaft often happens before camber is seen, the rear suspension would be rock solid when this occurs.

 

 

Seized torsion bars is a different issue totally, and is no indication of the condition of the trailing arm shafts and bearings, you really do need to take the arms out to see the condition.

[Bovien 6]

Thanks. I studied a doc here on refurbishing the rear beam, that cleared things a bit up. I can see that I would need to take the trailing arm shaft out to see the condition. But as far as I can figure, I should be able to see a difference from left to right on how the trailing arm moves, if I put the car on stands and use a trolley jack to move the individual wheel up and down. That should show if the wheels move freely, right?

When driving over bumps I can really feel a difference from the left side to the right, it is purely a noise issue. And then the whole car feels sloppy, which is why I want to change everything. I'm just hoping to avoid taking the rear beam completely apart.

[pug_ham 243 3 Cars]

There would still be suspension movement, but then what has seized?

If the radius arm has seized there will be no movement at all.

 

When the excessive camber happens, is it the shaft that bends?

No, its due to the radius arm shaft wearing through the bearing allowing the arm to sit against the upper bearing surface or tube. This attachment shows it somewhat better on a stripped beam which had been freed off to get it through an MOT.

 

I'm asking as I'm probably going to ge a salvaged beam, and I would like to know what to look after, to know if it needs any immidiate refurbishing. I'm only buying it if it is moved back to standard ride height, and if that is doable, I'm guessing it would show that it is in ok condition as the torsion bars wouldn't have seized, right?

It isn't the torsion bars that seize causing the problems with the beam, seized torsion bars are only an issue when you are stripping the beam down to rebuild it.

 

The problem with a seized beam is due to water ingress past the radius arm seals which wash the oil / grease out of the bearings & kill them due to insufficient lubrication. results as in the attachment I linked too.

 

In truth, any beam you get now would be better to strip & rebuild, replacing bearings & seals as necessary so you have a few years more from the beam.

 

Fitting one in an unknown condition is a waste of time & money imo as many bought from a breakers are already past their best, even though they might move freely & show no signs of camber etc.

 

g

[welshpug 1,646]

even the far newer 306 and Xsara are at the most 10 years or so old and most need new bearings and shafts, the extra weight and stiffer bars seem to have an impact on how quickly they wear, they also seem to have used far less grease than they did on the older cars