Good Old Rear Beams...

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

I've bought myself one of the Gaz kits from the recent group buy, I've fitted the front springs and dampers but hadn't got round to doing the rear end, as I wanted to lower it slightly to keep it looking right.

 

So feeling keen yesterday afternoon got her into the garage and set about the beam. I wasn't looking forward to pulling the bars as the beam looked like it had never been apart before, so 18 years and 137k miles later...... With the old dampers removed alarm bells started ringing, as the drivers side didn't drop down as expected, and felt very stiff. Not looking good!

So onto the torsion bars, luckily my demon puller made short work of these and they both came out without too much struggling.

The passenger side arm came out of the beam tube as expected, and looks in great condition. Even both of the bearings are top notch and I may even leave them in there.

Onto the drivers side, and oh dear. Big hammer to the fore, eventually the arm came out, bringing the remains of the outer bearing with it.....

 

 

The inner end is also fubar'd, not as bad as some I have seen though.

 

 

However on the plus side the beam tube is fine, it looks like I've caught it just in the nick of time. The inner bearing put up a good fight but came out in the end!

 

The Peugeot dealer in an unheard of bit of helpfulness have ordered some new bits which will be there in the morning apparently. I had a pair of slightly worn but otherwise pretty good trailing arm shafts, so as a trial I've ground back and welded up the wear area, and its gone off to my mate to be machined. I've often wondered if the shafts could be reclaimed, and seeing as its my own car I'm going to try!

 

I've pressed the old shaft out of the trailing arm, and its in the scrap bin!

[welshpug 1,657]

very lucky there Tom, what you describe with the Arm shaft is precisely what I've head a Citroen Specialist does, makes sense to me as welded metal is quite hard stuff!

 

My local dealer is quite good with beam parts too, with quite a few parts in stock.

 

Intrigued about what puller you use!

[miamichris 9]

im just about to start stripping my ream beam as the next step of my rebuild..after seeing some of the states they can be in and reading the horror stories, im absolutely dreading it!

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Here is the remains of the outer bearing. Outer race worn away, and the "rollers" had turned to a solid lump of bobar.

 

 

Luckily I caught it in time, as the rear beam tube is unmarked, phew!

 

 

Here is the puller, rough and homebrewed but never failed me, broke the earlier incarnation a few months ago so this is Mk2! It uses an M20 lead screw. I'm considering canvassing interest to see if people would buy them, and making 10 or so to sell.

 

[Anthony 1,003]

I'm surprised that the tube isn't ovalled with the outer bearing casing worn though like that - double check it with a pair of vernier calipers or something, but if it is serviceable then you were very lucky there as in 99% of cases it would be scrap!

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

I was also suprised TBH!

 

I think welding the shafts is a no-no as well, I had welded one up just on the worn area and when it was chucked up in the lathe it is as bent as a banana. I've another spare so this time I'm going to weld concentric rings all the way round to try and stop it distorting. Otherwise I'll be off to GSF on Monday for a new shaft

[welshpug 1,657]

IIRC when the bearing collapses that far the arm shaft rubs on the inner tube before wearing into the surface the bearing sits on, doesnt take long to do so though.

 

GSF have stock of those Arm shafts Tom, got some next day delivery a week ago.

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

much cheaper going to a scrappy and finding a base model 205/309 and getting the whole beam for £30. Means you get good shafts and a known good beam tube! Did this the other day with Alastair got a complete 309 rear axel absolutely spotless inside for £30!

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Well the second attempt at shaft reclaiming went pretty well so I've decided to fit the reclaimed shaft and see how it gets on. Here it is after machining and pressed back into the trailing arm.

 

I then fitted new bearings to the beam tube, as you can see from this picture, there is nothing wrong with the tube.

 

I've also been making some more tools. Fairly obvious what this one is for.

 

Its now all back together and I've taken it for a good beating round the lanes, really enjoyed myself in actual fact, you can't beat the willing nature of the 1600 engine.

[Alastairh 47]

Nice one.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Well a couple of weeks on and all is still well with the reclaimed trailing arm, the way to do it though is definitely to weld right the way round, to stop them bending with the heat. If I do any more I might use the TIG instead, and build them up slowly on lower power. When I did these ones I turned the MIG right up and let rip!

[taylorspug 7]

Here is the remains of the outer bearing. Outer race worn away, and the "rollers" had turned to a solid lump of bobar.

 

 

Luckily I caught it in time, as the rear beam tube is unmarked, phew!

 

 

Here is the puller, rough and homebrewed but never failed me, broke the earlier incarnation a few months ago so this is Mk2! It uses an M20 lead screw. I'm considering canvassing interest to see if people would buy them, and making 10 or so to sell.

 

 

Id be interested in a torsion bar puller, its a right twat of a job and that tool looks like it would work well.