Radius arm replacement

[cabriolet]

I replaced my nearside radius arm last year and it was reasonably straight forward, so this week decided to do the other. This was not straight forward and it tested my patience and what made it more difficult was that the bolt that secures the smaller mounting was heavily seized and the strap that retains the larger mounting to the underneath had been welded instead of bolted to the floor by someone doing a previous repair. Consequently I had to cut off the rear bolt and had to bend the front bracket downwards to release the front mounting. As the front retaining bracket was fixed it made the job of aligning the retaining bolts up very difficult. The bracket also had to be jacked up to refit the radius arm as I had bent it down to remove the old one. I hope this is not a common problem to overcome as it makes a reasonably easy job become a hard one. The job took a day longer as I had to order a new rear bolt and to my surprise it costs just over £15 from DMG inc delivery, £7 of which is postage. I did ask for a fast response but I think the postage price is high for a small item.

[davidr]

Well done - sounds like a bit of a mission!
I hope you gave it all a smear of copper grease so it doesn't sieze up again and that you remembered to lock wire the bolts. (Sorry to teach Granny! )

[steve_m]

Postage is always ridiculous for small items; all the suppliers seem to have a generic postage price regardless of the size or the weight of the items.
I have been quoted over £6 postage for something that cost 50p and fits in a normal envelope.
Just as an aside; if you are replacing a suspension component on one side then do the other side as a matter of course.

[cabriolet]

Postage is always ridiculous for small items; all the suppliers seem to have a generic postage price regardless of the size or the weight of the items.
I have been quoted over £6 postage for something that cost 50p and fits in a normal envelope.
Just as an aside; if you are replacing a suspension component on one side then do the other side as a matter of course.

Hi Steve,
Your theory about doing both sides at the same time is correct and as for my car the 1st radius arm was done just before it was garaged for the winter. (Very little mileage done from last repair) I am just spreading the time + cost of repairs and have just also replaced the front wheel bearings (both sides). Most of my winter jobs has been involved in recovering the interior panels myself as the cost of replacing the leather on the seats last year was very expensive. At the time of the seat repairs I purchased extra material with the view of making sure I could match the colour for future repairs. It was not my intention originally to do the work myself but I must say the panels I have done look the part.