Kezzers Rear Beam Refurb

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

As some of you might know, I offered to refurbish kezzers rear beam & lower it to match his front springs, which I also fitted, a while ago & we finally got it all done last week.

 

This topic also goes to show exactly how little you can tell about the state of a beam without taking it apart.

 

Adams beam showed no signs of camber & moved freely with no adverse warning squeaks but, adam had mentioned it rubbed when he had a passenger in the rear seat.

 

When I swapped the front springs I had a quick look & was initially puzzled because the inner wings shwed no signs of the tyre rubbing on them whcih you associate with a dying beam.

 

We started it on thursday morning last week & need it to all come apart nice & quick because the firm where I go to use the press for removing & refitting the trailing arm shafts would be closed on Friday with it being easter weekend.

 

Luckily, even though we hadn't done much preparation with any wd40 or penetrating oil, it came apart ok & after our 11am start I was on the way to swap the trailing arm shafts by 3pm.

 

On first look at the beam, it looked quite promising as the beam showed signs of having been apart before, having newer seals & cups fitted than expected.

 

I tried removing the torsion bars initially on the car but with limited access in the narrow single car garage at Adam's house ended up removing the beam built up to strip it completely.

 

I first removed the driver side rear shocks before we took the beam off the car & with it off I noticed the trailing arm shaft wasn't seated correctly but it turned out that was due to the lower shock mounting bolt being seized in the trailing arm & when I'd tried to remove it, the whole thing had moved, pulling the tube end of the torsion bar with it slightly.

 

 

With this inital sign of things moving freely I proceeded to use Tom Fentons puller to hopefully remove the torsion bar completely but unfortunately it was firmly stuck in the trailing arm end & all I managed to do was kill my pipe wrench causing it to slip on the nut so I gave up & left it attached to remove it seperately.

 

This was the first signs of what we were to find which made it lucky Adam had chosen to source all the parts he might have needed prior to starting the rebuild.

 

Once the beam was off & with the trailing arm fully removed, you can see the seals had started to let water in & the bearing grease had already turned into a rusty mess.

 

 

After a wipe down;

 

 

With the shock removed, the passenger side came apart much easier once the stud lock nut, screw & offset washer were also removed but also showed what a state it was in

 

If anything, the rusty mess we found on the drivers side was actually better, the bearing was already well past its best & had we left it much longer, the central tube was next part that would have turned to scrap, luckily we couldn't have caught it much better.

 

 

 

As you can see in the picture below, the outer bearing on the passenger side has started to break up & several rollers were already gone, the beam had been subject to new bearings previously but these were of the type with fewer rollers, shown better on the drivers side which were just still intact.

 

 

 

Passenger side trailing arm shaft;

 

 

 

Once everything was apart I loaded everything into my car including the replacement tube Adam had sourced from Stuart & headed off to swap the old, dead radius arm shafts for the shiny new ones Adam got from Poland.

 

I had intended to get the beam rebuilt Thursday evening but shortly after getting home & unloading the car, a mate called round & we ended up going for a few pints.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

I got up Friday morning & made a start on re-assembly of the new goodies.

 

After giving the trailings arms a once over with a wire wheel attachment in my drill, I removed the bearings from the donor tube & after greasing the new ones, fitted them in, followed by the cups & outer seals, filling the void between the seal & outer bearing with grease.

 

 

 

 

 

All back together ready for re-assembly;

 

 

I then cleaned the radius arm torsion bar splines & each end of the bars so everything would pass through or into the splines by hand.

 

I then set my dummy shock to 312mm & put everything together ready for the torsion bar fitting.

 

After I coated the splines with some graphite anti seize paste, I rotated them slowly until the splines slid fully home with gentle pressure & then put the offset washer & screw in place before setting the trailing arm clearance between the seal with the 0.05mm feeler gauge & locked the stud in place before doing the opposite side the same.

 

All rebuilt & ready to take back to Adams for refitting to his car;

 

 

With it all bolted back in pace & the rear brakes etc refitted we put the wheels back on & droppedit back to the ground to see how well I'd managed to match the ride heights front to rear.

 

 

 

Just about ideal imo with a minimal rake set slightly higher at the back.

 

Clearance on the bumpstop at 312mm dummy shock length / approx 40mm drop;

[pugdamo 111 2 Cars]

Dont suppose you had a pic of the car from side on,just wondering what to set my beam at when i do it?

[jord294 92]

just goes to show, and prove, that all is never as it seems.

 

out of interest. was the beam originally a 1.6 with hubs etc fitted after?

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

 

Also just a quick thank you to graham , fantasic job glad i did not have to write it up as it would have been crap haha .

But for anyone intersted i was very pleased with the full cost of the rebuilt and lowering , all in (parts and fitting) was just £450 , think ive seen beams on ebay for more than that so happy days

[allye 530 3 Cars]

I used to really dislike the colour mash up going on, now I like it! You're some how single handedly changing a bunch of purist into believers!

[omega 82]

what did you think about the quality/fit of the parts from poland?

[calvinhorse 870]

Good work chaps, car looks great

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

out of interest. was the beam originally a 1.6 with hubs etc fitted after?

The centre tube Adam sourced was from a 1.6 but I swapped the front mounts for those from the original 1.9 beam.

what did you think about the quality/fit of the parts from poland?

Can't fault them tbh, the trailing arm shafts are french made & could even be the same as supplied to Peugeot.

 

The only unfortunate part was that the inner bearings had fewer rollers than the old Nadella bearings Peugeot used to supply but they are stil the same as those in the kits Peugeot supply now.

 

g

[Anthony 1,002]

Good work as always G Very reasonable sounding price too considering that's supply and fit.

 

Goes to show exactly what I've been saying for years about beams almost always being in far worse condition internally than the apparent on-car condition suggests, and exactly why I always tell people to refurb before there's any obvious sign of failure - by the time they get to the point that they're cambered, knocking/squeaking or have play (let alone siezed!) it's likely you're going to need a replacement tube as well.

 

Any 205/309 (and increasingly 306/ZX/Xsara!) that doesn't have evidence of a previously beam build in recent years should be assumed to be in dire need, and any unknown 2nd hand beams should be assumed scrap regardless of the sellers claims of them moving freely.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

TBH, I don't think its a difficult job to do, plus Adam was nice only 15 minutes drive away so happy to help.

Any 205/309 (and increasingly 306/ZX/Xsara!) that doesn't have evidence of a previously beam build in recent years should be assumed to be in dire need, and any unknown 2nd hand beams should be assumed scrap regardless of the sellers claims of them moving freely.

100% agree , I wouldn't buy any car with this style if rear beam style suspension without bartering in for a rebuild asap, if I was to buy the car.

If things are as bad as they can be,even when it all appears good at first impression/inspection you could end up with a bill for as almost much as the car if its in a similar or worse state than this.

g