Ramps or axle stands to remove A-frame?

[timedwards]

I have my car up on drive-up ramps due to work underneath and was wondering if I can remove the A frame while it is up there to renew the bushes. I am much happier getting under the car with it up the ramps is this o.k. or does it need to be on axle stands?

Thanks Tim

[Popsjag]

Hi Tim.

Have emailed you.

[timedwards]

Just for the sake of completion I will finish off this thread...I decided to remove not just the A-frame but the axle with diff etc so I could paint it up. The rust was ground off then painted up and it had new dampers to go with the re-painted springs and other bits and bobs. Steve emailed me a step by step guide to how to do it. Of course whilst the A-frame could have been removed with the car on ramps I had to use axle stands to remove the whole axle. As advised I acquired an old trolly which I jacked up to the assembly before unbolting and then carefully lowered it all down for rolling out from under the car and into the garage for working on. Diff oil was changed in the process. Below are a couple of pics to illustrate.

[J44EAG]

Seriously heavy work, Tim.

Safety first and before all other considerations. Don`t go and wreck your back like I have. Had I taken more care in earlier years, I might have aliviated the possibility of causing herniated discs and severe sciatica. Please take care shifting these great lumps around.

I contracted to Nostalgia Jaguar around 2004. My job was to break down donor XJS and XJ40 for rebuild into their replica XK 120 models. The work was heavy and very dirty. How well I remember the ability of a differential to be able to apparently glue itself to the workshop floor. It was a two man job to get it moved anywhere or to lift it onto a work bench. If working single handed, I`d often use an engine hoist and webbing strap.

Keep up the good work.

Mike K

[timedwards]

Hi Mike

As you can see I have decided to tidy up the threads that I have started as sometimes they have tended to drift and go nowhere. I have tried to conclude them so that they might be of interest/help to others who read them in the future. It is surprising how many views these threads get.

Thankfully, since the back axle is sorted and the front back on the car the heavy work is done. I am not surprised you have a knackered back if you were doing that for a job. That would never get through a risk assessment today and if my boss at work asked me to do what I have done in my garage it I would just laugh. We must be mad! You are right though and getting it off the car is the easy bit because I used a trolley and jacks but then mauling it on the trolley to grind and paint I just heaved it by myself. A good post to end the thread on though because we all need to look after ourselves. I have had physio' on my back but to be honest I think it was all the running I did. I even had to stop the bike riding because of prostate problems! Falling apart at the seams

When this old girl is on the road I hope to see you at a meet to say hi.

Cheers and take care
Tim

[J44EAG]

Kindred spirits, Tim. Like so many of us here.

Hope to be at the AGM on 4th November at Castle Brum. Chat then if you are thinking of attending.

Mike

[PeterDavisX300]

Hello to Both.

I am just about to start removing the rear axle on my X300. I have all replacement parts ready to go on with new bushes, also mostly new bolts. I'm replacing the whole set-up with new springs, bushes, shocks, A-Frame, Diff-Carrier, Support-Rods, H-Brake Cables, you get the picture!

I can kind of see how to do this job, but ANY advice from owners that have tackled the job previously would be most welcome. My only downside is I'm doing the job outside in the North of Scotland where we've already had -5 Degrees overnight recently.

I have got as far as supporting the car, disconnecting the propshaft (I have a new coupling and bolts), removing the brake calipers and ABS sensors and spraying all the bolts with WD40. I'm going to go out today and scrape all the excess corrosion from the bolt-heads, and give it a re-spray with WD40. One initial question, will I have to compress the road-springs, or can I just support the whole cradle and un-bolt it, then slowly drop the cradle out on a trolley-jack?? I'm just going to cut the old rear section H-Brake cables off.

Any input would be appreciated.

Peter

[timedwards]

Hi Peter

Oh for a garage, -5C is horrific, remember the wooly hat!

I just wrote a reply and deleted it quickly as I made an error due to poor memory, so here it is again but slightly different I hope I have got it right this time.

When I did mine I did the same as you and removed the A-frame first. Mine was rusted in place at the sprockets so heat was required to free it. Don't lose the spacers though which go on the sprockets. With the A-frame removed the diff was well supported by the propshaft and brace bars. I slowly and carefully lowered the diff on my large ex-supermarket wheeled trolly which needed more than one jack to raise it. I found that I needed ramps under the control arms when lowering to stop it toppling over. Then with prop shaft unbolted then brace bars unbolted I lowered it and the springs came down with the whole thing. The reason they did not need compressing was because I had a jack under the control arm as I unattached the damper at the bottom beforehand. I had then slowly lowered the control arm until the springs were at full length. I hope this makes sense? However if my memory serves I dont think there was much tension in the springs at all as the car was raised and so the control arms were in a pretty lowered position in any case with the dampers preventing that last inch or two of spring extension. Later on I undid the bolts attaching the spring/damper support plates to the body with a long extension and universal joint in order to get the dampers out. Would love to know where I can get the 13mm replacement bolts though? From memory I am pretty sure this was the order but I definately did not compress the springs and had no problems at all. If I have got something wrong please somebody step in and correct me.

When I put the springs back in I read about 40's and 300's having an intermittent rear end squeak from the foam spring seat bushes drying out. As you can see from the pic below I was taking no chances.

Good luck with the job Peter and lete us know how you get on with some pics of the end result.

I am preparing for welding tomorrow. Never welded before but if I mess it up I can alaways call someone in lol. Just think if we had garages we could have a nice warm fire and a kettle on the go

[PeterDavisX300]

The "Spacers-on-the-sprockets" Erm..............."Sprockets" to me are something I have on a couple of Motorcycles I have?

Thanks for the reply.

Peter

[timedwards]

Should I have said spigot bush shim? It's all Greek to me lol. Mine had one missing on the one side but one of the cheapest things I have shelled out for!