For a few months I have been putting it off, but tonight the offide rear wheel is definitely leaning at 3-4 degrees, the handling is getting obviously bad, and tyre wear evident. I will attempt again tomorrow to get a decent rear axle for it.
Has anyone any hints as to the difficult parts of the job, and any tricky bits? I have been told by several mechanics to put a 2ndhand axle under rather than attempt to change the bush/bearing concerned. Anyone ever tried this?
Mate's pickup on standby, trusty 309 (off road for months , but still a first time starter) coming out of garage tommorrow. Mind you, I will be going past the Ford garage, and may come back with a Focus estate??
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Hi
If your after a second hand rear axle, these turn up on ebay a lot, there are people who break 405s on ebay too.
You might end up with a whole 405 for under £50.
Have a look at ebay & you might find just what your looking for.
Things to check before you buy are, Have you got drums or discs? ABS fitted?
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That's why I like the old girl. Drums, no ABS, so should be straightforward I hope
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Hi
Good luck with it, Im not sure if the Turbo diesels & diesels have a slightly stronger set up in the rear axle?
You might find the saloon has the same axle as the estate as well.
Might be an idea to have a friendly word in the parts dept down your local Pugeot dealer & ask them what range of models are suitable for your axle needs.
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Saloon and Estate axles are different - ride heights.
Brake pipes can be troublesome.
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Thank you DL. I realised the axles were different when I first considered the need to swop axles, as I couldn't get one then. Thanks for the confirmation about the brake pipes. I had the garage change one last year (run out of brake pipe on a Saturday morning). Asked them to put in a foot of pipe at the engine end of the front pipe, but they ignored me. When I realised this, I said that the connection to the rear pressure regulator was going to be a pig, that's why I only wanted the damaged section changing. "Only a few minutes" they said.1½ hours later (an hour after normal finishing time, and with all 3 of them working on it) they had changed both pipes. Pipes copper, but the unions, alas, not, so may be a pig. I may cut em off short, and fit a union to the ends.
Mind you, I am going past the Ford garage
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I've changed a few rear axles in 405's (all Diesel!)
They do seem to be available - pay in the region of £80-£130 tops.
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Thank you DL
Looks like tank to drain,filler pipe to remove, 2 exhaust systems to remove, brake pipes to remove, handbrake cables to remove, brake drums and shores to lighten before I start the main job
My enthusiasm for doing this sort of job has waned with the years, particularly as I will be doing it alone.
May be cheaper to buy one with a good axle and keep the old girl for spares for it.
Thanks to every one for their help
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Have a look at this site, may be of use to you -
www.sspengineering.co.uk/
Steve.
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Glowplug
Thank you for this excellent address.
£100 to fit in 2½ hours gives me something to aim for. On my own, and without a 4 poster lift I will allow ½ day to remove and a day to refit (will make a break from yelling at 16 yr old to do some revision instead of playing computer games)
Probably not worth the price of a reconditioned unit for the old girl, but something to bear in mind for the 306s I maintain.
I have 3 specialist breakers within 6 miles, and one has promised to take the axle off an N registered Estate on Tuesday for me. If it is u/s I will leave it there and tour the others.
Thanks again
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Had this problem with my 306 when it approached 120k. Got a scrap yard axle off the shelf £125+vat (off a "low mileage" car I was told). After the a few hours fitting dropped it down only to find it worse than the original! I did'nt have time to swap them back over so had to drive round on it for a few days. In the meantime I dropped my original axle off with a local engineering firm to rebush it at a cost of £155.65 all in, swapped these back over, took the duff one they sold me back to the scrap yard for a full refund. My opinion is that if a car is of the age to be scrapped then chances are the bushes will be worn or not much life left in them anyway. If you can get the axle off yourself and live without the car for a few days then the marginal extra cost of having the old one rebushed like new is well worth it.
Allow 3-4 hours to swap them round, and a good opportunity to change the brake fluid whilst the pipes are disconnected.
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Started the job a couple of hours ago. All OK up to trying to remove the handbrake cable from its holder, and getting at the 4 bolts which hold the axle on. TORX 50, and difficult to see.
Think I will leave the plusgas to do its work overnight, but they seem to be difficult to work on, and may lead to the scrapyard beckoning
Sadly the Fiat went wrong earlier today, and the Peugeot 309 battery has died suddenly. I think I have the mechanical equivalent of an albatross around my neck
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Update
That nice Mr Haynes lies
I could not believe that the entire axle was held on at the front only, and have now found a photo showing the way of releasing the rear mountings which isn\'t referred to in the text.
This appears to require (I think) a Torx 50 which is 70mm long, not a standard one. Can anyone confirm before I go out and buy one.
Re the mechanical (and electric) albatross and for those of you keeping score, it is now
1 dead 405, with me having the need to take the petrol tank off as the front mounting bolts are seized(which means putting the thing back on its wheels)
1 dead Fiat, with the glowplug controller costing £78 vat, and a suspect glow plug
1 dead 309, with the battery traumatically failing 2 months after guarantee expiring
1 dead Honda, with me leaving it in the yard and saying \"if they steal it, they have to get it going\"
1 nearly dead Mitsubishi, with the me not stopping when I agreed the pitman arm would be a pig to remove, and would grind it off rather than apply heat, receiving 1 split lip and a chipped tooth when my ball joint puller slipped
And my PC has just failed giving an error message that looked like a virus
And I can\'t do the crossword
If I wasn\'t depressed before.................
Sitting in the sun for an hour, drinking Aussie red wine through a straw has helped
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