Anyone with a middle-aged 106 might want to look closely at the two forged arms which support either end of the rear axle.
Ours is a 'P' reg base model 'XN'(8 years old). Spotted it quite by accident while repairing a small hole in the rear silencer.
Both these arms, particularly the near-side, appear to have extensive corrosion. Maybe it's not as bad as it looks but there's a lot of flaking and lamination.
My short-term solution is to blast them with WD40 until I can stipple a good coat of Waxoyl.
Don't know if they've been caught in time. It had an MOT in Feb -my MOT man doesn't usually miss anything!
They appear to carry the whole weight of the rear of the car.
Looks like a complete rear suspension-off job to fix.
It's quite a surprise when the bodywork is in such good nick - 106's don't seem to rust where you can see it.....
Has anyone else found the same - or worse?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 21/10/2009 at 13:32
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I presume you are referring to the rear radius arms, as the 106 has no 'axle' as such. The arm is a pretty solid piece of steel and a bit of surface corrosion is no threat, but may be a nuisance if you ever have to replace a torsion bar. No harm in Waxoyling I suppose.
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The 'axle' which I referred to, is the large diameter tube across the width of the car, from which the radius arms pivot.
Each end of this tube is attached to the floor pan by two hefty forged or stamped beams.
It's these which are corroded - hefty they may be, but the corrosion I've found goes quite deep.
As you say, it's normal to see surface corrosion on suspension parts, but I've never seen anything quite like this before - the sort of rot you see on old ships chains and railings!!!.
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Remember the old Mini subframe problem? I'm surprised that Pug has perpetuated that one.
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It's quite a surprise to me as well, considering that the underbody, including where these things attach, is in excellent condition.
These beams are well out of the water firing line with no coating of mud, and the worst of the two is in a warm spot next to the exhaust.
I can only think that they've been made from a very poor quality 'iron'- they look like they've just been dug out of the ground.
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Might a previous owner have 'looked after' the car by sousing it underneath regularly, where it wouldn't normally get wet?
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Has anyone else found the same - or worse?
Yes!!
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=12...1
ended up trading it in to get rid of it!
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well we owned ours from new: 1993. I noticed this when new and sprayed it with Waxoil in 1994. There is no rust protection on the arms.
A bit of surface rust now: Dinitrol now keeps it in check.
(fortunately we have a pit and around late May I do an annnual inspection : rust along welded body seams underneath is solved by Dinitrol - especially under spare wheel. )
I think the problem is they get damp and are out of the airflow so don\'t dry out.. and of course are unpainted..
madf
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They appear to be just coated in a thin layer of red-oxide primer.
Not seen a real rusty one yet.
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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The 106 rear suspension rusts on the unpainted forged steel support brackets and radius arms. These are of massive construction, and would be unlikely to cause a long term problem, although the rust looks bad. The torsion bars and sheet steel axle tube are adequately painted.
The rear floor pan and reinforcing box members under the boot floor and around the suspension assembly mountings are a real rust trap. Waxoyl is needed in all of the seams inside and outside the box members to prevent real trouble. It is a great pity, because otherwise the 106 is a remarkably rust resistant car. All of the visible panels (wings, sills etc.) are galvanised and mine looks completely rust free in these areas after 6 hard years.
To think, I could have bought a metro! Properly treated, the 106 is a remarkably good long term proposition for its price. Pattern spares (and OE from GSF) are cheap, and the 1.5 diesel is a cracker. It makes the cost of fuel irrelevant.
659.
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would this excessive corrosion one side of the rear of the car to drop. I have this problem and can't seem tho figure out how to fix it! What holds the car at the proper height and what do I need to fix to get it back there.
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broken torsion bar i would expect
sounds dangerous,never seen one broke so corrosion must be a serious issue or you hit a speed bump at warp factor 10
get it inspected now by a competent gar rage
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I have taken the wheel off and had a good look. The Torsion bar and rear axle are rusty but not broken. I am puzzled about how the height is determined. Could it be internally in the axle. I can lift the car up to the top of the oil suspension strut and it will stay there until I push it back down where it will stay as well. What holds it in the middle?
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I think you might be confusing the anti roll bar with the torsion bar.
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No actually I was typing rubbish, there are two torsion bars one for each side not one anti roll bar and one torsion bar. So, one wheel flapping about means one torsion bar broke/loose - move the suspension up and down the torsion bar should be attached at both ends and not free.
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The rubber bushes on the rear suspension wear out. Is the one rear wheel also at a different angle? If you jack the car up off the ground and grab the wheel at 12oclock and 6oclock there should be very little movement. Then put the wheel nut wrench on the rearmost wheelnut so it points backward. Use the wrench to test that the suspension moves up and down properly and doesn't twist.
It's not too hard to replace the entire rear wheels and suspension if you find a fault. Except the handbrake - that's fiddly.
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Ok I have sourced a 2nd hand rear axle. around a £100. But I am not sure weather I want a 3 stud axel or a 4 stud axel. which studs are they talking about. Also I am going to attack nuts, bolts and framework they are attached too. As it is very rusty and I dont want to take it off to find I cant attach the new one because its too rusty. Then if I got that fixed I hope that the CV joint at the front is ok, but I doubt it as I have probably done a few 1000 miles with the thing banging away.
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If you cant count beyond 3 I think that you are setting yourself up for some problems in attempting to change it.
;)
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To be a little more helpful, 106s were produced with 3 or 4 stud (actually, they're bolts) wheels. For the useful provisioning of a spare wheel, it's an advantage to have the same number of wheel bolt holes all round. Make sure your replacement axle assembly has the same number of wheel fixings as exists at the front.
659.
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lol I thought it was the nuts holding the wheels on. I shall let u know when I get it fitted!
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got rear axle for £45, hope I dont need the cv joint as well. But I got a quote for £25
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Ok. Taking the back axle off was a little tricky. The main part, four nuts and bolts was fine. The brake lines were a nightmare. Defo need the right tools for this because the rust had nearly welded the brake lines at the joints. Managed to save them but then discovered the axles were the same but the brake set up was different. longer handbrake cables, different drums etc. So swapped the brake system over from one axle to the other. I have now got it all back on the car and just have to bleed the brakes and give it a road test. This would have been very difficult by myself. luckily I had a engineering m8 to hand who had a couple of m8s in garages with the right tools.
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Funny, I did mine with a spanner, a socket set, a big screwdriver for levering and a car jack. I used concrete blocks to hold the car off the ground. I also did the front wishbones at the same time. I needed a hammer for that bit.
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659FBE - You may have been more helpful - but I reckon that I summed it up correctly. just as well he had some mates available. Just think, that might be the car behind you when you next brake heavily on the motorway!
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I think the three stud four stud confusion actually refered to the mounting bolts that hold the axle on. 306 have three bolts per side 106 have two bolts per side I think. When I saw that I swore I'd never handbrake turn again.
P.S. If you are braking heavily on the Motorway, you are doing it wrong. Like Clarkson says "Look ahead use, the throttle."
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