Hi Everyone,
After replacing the front shock absorbers on my 306 DTurbo (XUD9T), I have noticed that the driveshafts have some movement in them. Even with the weight of the car on them, I seem to be able to move the shaft in and out by a few mm. (Lefthand N/S shaft). Is this normal, or could I have inadvertantly damaged the shaft by replacing the shocks? There was no movement before I did the work! There seems to be some noise coming from this area, but it sounds more like a wheelbearing hum, but as soon as the weight comes off that side, eg going around lefthand corners, it quietens down.
Can anyone shed any light on this??
Thanks
Ross
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Obvious suggestion first. Presumably to replace the front shocks you had to take the suspension struts off which will have meant undoing the hub nuts and pulling the struts free of the driveshafts? In which case, have you done the hub nuts up to the correct torque? On most front drive cars these are done up very tight indeed - we are talking breaker-bar-with-a-scaffold-pole-on-the-end tight. Humming noise which goes away on LH corners certainly sounds like a wheel bearing - again these rely on the hub nuts being done up properly.
Assuming the hub nuts are not the problem, I suppose it's possible that one of the wheel bearings was already worn, was unhappy about being disturbed and has therefore died. Basically an unfortunate coincidence. I have often found there is a bit of longitudinal play in driveshafts and it never seems to do any harm. Perhaps when you tested it before, the driveshaft was under load (car left in gear) and so it locked up and you were unable to detect any play.
When you think about the amount of abuse that driveshaft joints have to cope with, it seems pretty unlikely that you could damage one by accident.
Hope this helps.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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Thanks for the reply. I didnt have to undo the hubnut, I was able to remove the strut from the hub without removing the driveshaft. It sounds as if it could be a wheelbearing on its last legs from what you have said and from what I know. This is a s**, as replacement is not a simple job. From what the Paynes manual describes, a press has to be used to extract the bearing and a new one pressed in. Has anyone had any experience with this? As far as I can tell, the 205, 306 and 405 along with the Citroen ZX use this type of arrangement, so can anybody who has done this say otherwise??
Cheers!!
Ross
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Yes you're right it is a s** of a job! Remove the stru from the hub. Lift the hub off the swivel joint to the lower wishbone and disconnect the tracking rods, larking the exact position before removal (otherwise tracking will have to be repaired after). Then take the hub to a friendly garage and get them to do the pressing. Your will b***** it up if you try to cut corners and try to knock it out!!
Actually someone told me that if you heat the hub up in the oven to a couple of hundred degrees you can slip the cold bearing in easily. Never tried it, probably completely shafts the grease in the bearing when all the heat is transferred from the hub!!
Use lots of WD40.
Good luck,
Humphrey
PS make sure you have correctly identified what side bearing has gone. I went through the murder of changing one only to discover I had done the wrong side!!
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I'm not an expert, but when I took my 205 in to have your symptom treated - hum varying with direction of steering - the instant diagnosis was a wheel bearing. In fact it was in for MoT as well, and would have been a fail point. The diagnosis was correct as it is now cured. New bearing £28 + VAT.
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Ross
I think you could be barking up the wrong tree with the wheel bearing theory. The outer drive shaft on the Cit/Pug is retained in the CV joint by a thin circlip, and it's not unknown for this to spring off if the shaft is disturbed - which could have happened if you were muscling with the hub etc while trying to remove the strut.
If you had a worn wheel bearing I would not expect a few mm of end float in it - a few thou, maybe.
I seem to remember discussing this during an e-mail session with David W. If you have a look in the Haynes book at the procedure for renewing the outer CV joint boot you will see what I mean. I've just checked it for a Cit, but I don't have a 306 manual any more.
Worth a thought?
Ian Cook
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