ARB end plate - Saxperience

dturbo · 1st October 2018, 06:52

More questions re the VTS..

Had the car on a lift doing some welding in the rear arch and noticed the drivers side ARB end plate securing bolt (at the bottom of the plate, to the trailing arm) was loose. Tightened it up of course. However with the bolt loose, if I lift up on the arm, the ARB end plate can move vertically in the hole in the trailing arm a bit.

Does this mean the plate or the hole in the arm, is worn? Or is this normal? I assumed that it should be a snug fit?

Cheers
Craig

MartinObviously · 1st October 2018, 17:20

It means the seal is worn, this is what lets water in and allows the bearings to fail. - amongst other seals.

My advice would be to get a reconditioned axle from Axles by Stef (facebook) or other company www.oms.scot

Simply because, you could replace the seal - but if water has already been in there it'll just put off the inevitable.

dturbo · 1st October 2018, 19:34

Ah OK. Thanks. So the plate is 'located' in the hole by the seal? The axle is fairly recent to be honest and the car has done barely any miles in the last couple of years, think the axle bearings are OK tbh. I've been there with a 306 axle so I know the signs pretty well.

If I am happy the axle is still healthy, I guess I could replace the seal and regrease?

MartinObviously · 1st October 2018, 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by dturbo

Ah OK. Thanks. So the plate is 'located' in the hole by the seal? The axle is fairly recent to be honest and the car has done barely any miles in the last couple of years, think the axle bearings are OK tbh. I've been there with a 306 axle so I know the signs pretty well.

If I am happy the axle is still healthy, I guess I could replace the seal and regrease?

Well if it's not moving much its probably okay. Just pack it with grease and tighten the bolt back up. Might need to use a spring washer on it, they loosen really easily

Sent from my SM-A500FU using Tapatalk

dturbo · 1st October 2018, 19:58

Thanks. I'll have a nosy at it. Was thinking of putting a bit of threadlock on the bolt as well! Hoping I don't need to spring for an axle, enough bits getting replaced already!

Don't yet know if it's a good or a bad thing, but the car has a JP4s engine in it. Sadly it doesn't have the alloy inlet... Also they bodged the redrilling so some of the middle studs pull out. Don't think it has a vac leak, but the plastic inlet will basically be held on by the bottom studs and then 2 at the edges (using washers - the inlet covers half the end holes). Time will tell!

Thanks again for the advice.

Cheers
Craig

MartinObviously · 1st October 2018, 20:00

The joys!

The alloy inlet doesn't yield any gains at all. the inlets are matched to the camshaft. so if it's got j4 cams then it needs a j4 inlet etc

If it had a severe vacuum leak I'm sure you'd know

give it a spray with WD40 when it's idling and see if the engine note changes.

dturbo · 1st October 2018, 23:04

Nice one. I'll try that tomorrow

dturbo · 20th October 2018, 07:36

Been trying to track down an ARB end plate seal, with no luck. Any ideas where I can get one?

Thanks

MartinObviously · 20th October 2018, 10:17

Did you tighten the end plate bolt up?

dturbo · 20th October 2018, 17:06

Hi Martin,

Yeah, tightened it up and it was fine for a bit, but I could hear the chink chink sound last night which indicates that the plate is moving. Not sure if the bolt has really slackened as such or if it is just that there is sufficient movement to overcome the bolt tension. I suspect the bolt hole may be a little ovalled (I can resolve that with a little help from my welder).

I might just call IM axles and see if they can supply a seal, I presume they have stock of them to use on their rebuilds.

Cheers
Craig

Ben_SaxoForte · 20th October 2018, 17:18

I doubt the seal would contribute to the noise unless its actually ripped as the seals have a bit of movement in them anyway. and if its ripped its more than likely that your axle has taken in some moisture. your best bet would be to put a bit of weld on the end plates and see if it actually makes the noise go away imo. And remove the end plate and check the seals.

dturbo · 20th October 2018, 17:55

Can you tell me what you mean by put a bit of weld on the endplates? Where abouts?

Ben_SaxoForte · 20th October 2018, 18:14

I just mean you could put a small amount of weld onto the arb end plates onto the trailing arm to see if it stops the noise, like just enough so you can easily grind it back off if needed.

dturbo · 20th October 2018, 18:20

Thought that was what you meant, just wanted to check though!

Thanks
Craig

welshpug · 21st October 2018, 14:14

your axle bearings are knackered, allowing the arm to twist around making the bolt come loose.

welding to the arms isn't a great idea, its cast steel so needs a lot of pre-heat to actually get a weld to penetrate properly and not just break off.