S4 suspension clunking

[mike]

I’m told there is a manual available which will probably have more info but really it’s just standard car stuff.  There are a couple of tapers involved so you need a splitter (or just hammer it as you will be replacing anyway) The rest of it is just take it apart and put it back together. One of the lower arm bolts won’t  move enough to come out of the sub frame  but if you loosen the sub frame bolts and lever it down you can get the bolt out. 

The “sod it” part is the pinch bolt that clamps the two top ball joints. This is M8 and passes through 4 maybe 5 inches of close fitting tube. Both mine were rusted solid.  The first time I snapped the head off, heated it with the oxy acetylene and used the nut, some spacers and an impact gun to pull the bolt out. The other side was also seized but I’d run out of oxygen so tried a blow lamp which wouldn’t get enough heat into it. I ended up taking the upright off and seem to remember cutting a section out of the middle of the bolt and drilling/punching the remains out as two halves. A pain but not rocket science. A few soakings with releasing fluid and a bit of gentle torque in advance might free the bolt (but I doubt it) but in any event a new bolt comes with the kit and I smothered to with grease on re-assembly.


--- On Thu, 18/6/09, Richard van der Hoff <quattro at rvanderhoff.org.uk> wrote:

> From: Richard van der Hoff <quattro at rvanderhoff.org.uk>
> Subject: Re: S4 suspension clunking
> To: "Quattro List" <quattro at audifans.com>
> Date: Thursday, 18 June, 2009, 6:38 PM
> Hi Mike,
> 
> Ah, now this sounds like an excellent option. And yep
> you're right, ebay
> seems a much better option than trying to get it shipped
> from the US.
> 
> Thanks for the tips about fitting. I'm trying to decide if
> I should do
> this myself. Any words of advice on tools I'm likely to
> need, beyond
> spanners, sockets and a torque wrench? (And apparently
> potentially a
> blowtorch and a drill :/).
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Richard
> 
> 
> mike wrote:
> > I second what Huw said, I’ve got a B5 S4 too and had
> the same issue, assorted Ebay sellers will provide a full
> kit of links etc for under £150 and at that price it’s
> not worth identifying which bit has actually failed, just
> change them all. 
> > 
> > With no lift and just a tree to avoid sunstroke I
> would have managed both sides in a day but the bolts that
> clamps the outer end of the top links had seized in the
> tubes, one side came out with a bit of heat and an impact
> gun, the other side had to be drilled which took me into the
> second day. Well worth giving that area a spray before you
> start. Also, one of the bottom link bolts fouls on the body
> so you need to loosen the corner of the sub frame and lever
> it down a touch.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --- On Thu, 18/6/09, Huw Powell <audi at humanspeakers.com>
> wrote:
> > 
> >> From: Huw Powell <audi at humanspeakers.com>
> >> Subject: Re: S4 suspension clunking
> >> To: "Richard van der Hoff" <quattro at rvanderhoff.org.uk>
> >> Cc: "Quattro List" <quattro at audifans.com>
> >> Date: Thursday, 18 June, 2009, 3:31 AM
> >>
> >>
> >> Richard van der Hoff wrote:
> >>> For quite a while now, I've been chasing some
> clunking
> >> from the front 
> >>> suspension on my B5 S4, and I'd appreciate the
> list's
> >> wisdom on where to 
> >>> go with this.
> >> Replace everything.  Seriously.  When my
> coupe
> >> used to "clunk" at 
> >> various times, I slowly started replacing
> suspension
> >> components.  Which 
> >> each replacement, the clunk got quieter.  By
> the time
> >> I'd done 
> >> everything, it was almost impossible to hear, so I
> think I
> >> fixed it.
> >>
> >> -- 
> >> Huw Powell
> >>
> >> http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi
> >>
> >> http://www.humanthoughts.org/
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
> >> http://www.audifans.com/kb/List_information
> >>
> > 
> > 
> >       
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