Front Spring Removal

[Kevin MacBride]

I have a spare front axle I want to dismantle. Has anyone removed the front springs from an axle whilst off the car. I know the spring is held in place by the large bottom nut. Is there much pressure from the spring against the nut ?

[JohnMillham]

Is there much pressure? You bet there is. Treat it with great respect, or it will have your head off! Good luck.
Regards, John

[the.cern]

So, how much pressure and what is the trick (I'm sure there must be one) to remove the nut without the spring 'having your head off' ?

Is it the same for an Augusta front spring?

These things terrify me and normally I try to stay well away from them but the Gussie definitely needs some attention.

                           Andy

[ColinMarr]

I once did this on an Aprilia unit that had been removed from a car. I did it by holding the axle beam vertically in the open doorway at the back of my garage with the sliding pillar horizontally across the span of the door opening. It was a two person job – we jammed it in place with the tool that was held in situ by a bottle-jack and some blocks of wood for packing. As I remember it, once the end-cap/nut had started to turn (lots of force on long bars!) it was fairly easy to gently release some pressure from the jack while continuing to wind the bottom cap undone. We also had some old carpet to hang over it all in case something sprang out! I think the spring only needs to expand by about 8 cms.

Good luck!

Colin

[Kevin MacBride]

I was told the way to do it was 'on the car'. with a bottlr jack under the nut to take the strain as the nut was unscrewed. This made sense in one way, but would the spring not be under much more pressure with the weight of the car. I would have thought that with the weight off the spring there would be much less pressure.
I came across a 'video' on utube recently of two men overhauling an axle. The axle was held in a vice, one of them was unscrewing the nut, and the other had a large plank of wood, braced against the nut to take the strain. Unfortunatly, the 'video' consisted of still photos linked together so the 'event' was not properly viewed. One photo showed the wood brace, the next one showed the springs on the bench.
When I do attempt it, I'll try to video the work.....at least my missus can use it for evidence when making her claim !!

[Parisien]

Kevin, so what "safe" technique worked in the end,  a happy ending to this topic would be appreciated......

P

[Kevin MacBride]

I'll tell you exactly what happened, as you may have seen I've a drum kit in my workshop. When I went for lessons years ago, my teacher of the time told me if I was having trouble with a particular pattern, I was to leave it, and go do something else to clear my mind.
So, the obvious thing to do was restore an Aurelia.......except things tended to get reversed, so, when I found I was having trouble with my B20 maintenance, I'd turn to the kit instead and practise.....result, my drumming has improved, and my B20 lies 'unfinished'....
At the moment I'm between Joe Morellos 'Take Five' and an engine installation.....By the time I get to the front axle......!!!

[Parisien]

Will be more patient Kevin.....and ask my son to teach me the drums.........


P

[Kevin MacBride]

Nothing worthwhile should be rushed......thats my excuse anyway !

[ColinMarr]

Looking back at my old post on this subject, there is something I should have added. I described doing this job on a front suspension that had been removed from the car. This was because the bits I wanted happened to be in a unit already removed from a car, and that was the way I did it. It would of course been much easier to do the job with the axle in-situ and use the weight of the car on the tool to hold the whole thing together, which is the normal way to do it, but that wasn’t an option I had.

Don’t be deterred!

Colin

[Parisien]

Thanks Colin, we might wait until the axle is back on the car........or do it now...will wait and see what my guy says.


P

[Parisien]

Having spent several, initially fruitless evenings wrestling manfully with, and then finally removing and stripping down the rear hubs, we are about to do the same to the front sliding pillar units.

We had intended doing this from the off given the advice noted above about doing this whilst they were still in situ. When we'd brought the car back from the blasters we saw streaks of fluid running down the outside of the sliding pillars, we naturally assume this is indicative of the seals on same having failed, ergo we need to strip them down and replace same regardless.

Andy (the.cern) has already helpfully passed on a very useful article on doing this but I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not the required parts for a refurb are readily available from specialist sellers of relevant parts or need to go to Omicron or Italy for these ( can be bought in kit form or individually?), plus are they the same for all Aurelia front suspension units?

Thanks,

P