i30 Owners Club

THE GARAGE (SERVICE, MAINTENANCE & REPAIR) => GENERAL => Topic started by: BrendanP on August 12, 2019, 20:44:23

Title: Replacing front drop-links on FD
Post by: BrendanP on August 12, 2019, 20:44:23
Just replaced them after 180,000 miles, though the suspension has been knocking for a few thousand miles. Easiest way to diagnose is to have a fit, strong friend violently rock the car from side to side, while you get down on the ground and check the drop-links. Exercise great caution if feeling inside the wheel arch or you could get broken fingers, and don't get your head jammed under the bumper! I doubt that you'll see any movement in the worn ball-joint, but you will certainly feel it if you can safely rest your fingers against it whilst the car is rocking.

Good quality 17mm ring spanner and open ended spanners are needed to get the bottom joint undone as there's no room to get a socket onto the inward facing nut. Be careful to keep the open ended spanner in-line with the flats on the joint which hold it steady whilst undoing the nut. If you're careless like I was, and the spanner slips off and rounds off the flats, the nut will have to be removed by cutting it off. On one side the nut was so tight I used a trolley jack under the end of the spanner to apply enough torque to crack it loose.

Place a jack under the brake disc and lift it up so the top joint can be pushed out easily from the strut.

The replacement links I bought are Moog parts, mainly because that's all I could find in stock locally on a Sunday morning. £37 for the pair, but they do have 3 year warranty, and were supplied in a sealed box with a hologram label, so they do appear to care about traceability. The nut was 18mm AF, and the flat on the joint was 16mm AF. The threaded stud is longer than the original part, and has a recess so you can hold it still with an allen key.

Fit the bottom end first, and jack up the strut once again so the top joint goes in easily, and the nuts can be tightened without having to fight against the force of the coil spring.

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