S1000RR: Congrats
on the new vehicle (and suspension)
Looks great!
I fitted
the springs today as well, and I'm also very happy with the result.
Here's some
photos from today. There might be other (and easier ways) to fit the springs,
but this worked out quite well for us
Tools you
need:
-------------------------------------------------
Socket
wrench
13, 16, 17,
18 mm spanners or sockets
21 mm
cranked spanner
Various
torx bits or sockets between T30 and T45
Torque
wrench that can go up to at least 100 Nm
XZN 14 bit
Jaw puller
""Spreader
tool""� (VW 3424) or equivalent
Spring
compressor
Flat-blade
screw driver
Hammers
(rubber mallet and ball-peen hammer)
Torque
specifications:
--------------------------------------------------
Front strut
top nut: 60 Nm
Front
spring plate nut: 60 Nm
Wheel
bearing housing bolt: 70 Nm + 90 degrees
Coupling
rod top nut: 40 Nm
Swivel
joint bolts: 100 Nm
Tie rod
ball joint: 20 Nm + 90 degrees
(Rear shock
absorber top nut: 20 Nm)
Rear shock
absorber bottom bolt: 50 Nm + 180 degrees
Windscreen
wiper nuts: 16 Nm
First we
need to remove the rubber seal from the engine compartment. Simply pull it off:
Then remove
the caps and the nuts from the windscreen wiper arms:
We then ran
the wipers until they were placed vertical on the windscreen. This allowed us
to fit the jaw puller, so that we could dismantle the wiper arms:
The plastic
trimming (which is split in two) needs to come off as it covers the top strut
nuts. This trimming is very brittle, so be gentle! Pull the trimming
perpendicular to the windscreen and start from the centre moving towards the
fenders:
At the
fender you need to pull the last bit towards the front of the vehicle. These ""clips""�
are quite fragile, so pull with caution!
Now we move
to the hub. First we remove the brake hose and sensor wire:
We then
disconnect the coupling rod at the top. The torx bit is used to prevent the ball joint from turning when you loosen/fasten the nut:
Now we loosen
the bolt on the wheel bearing housing:
Remember
that you need a XZN 14 bit:
Now loosen
the tie rod ball joint nut - UPDATE 18. August 2013: THIS STEP IS NOT NECESSARY:
And disconnect
the joint with the jaw puller-UPDATE 18. August 2013: THIS STEP IS NOT NECESSARY:
Remove the
swivel joint:
Now we need
to ""spread""� the wheel bearing housing, so that we can remove it from the strut.
Normally you would use the VW 3424 tool, but we didn't have one of those. Instead
we took an old centre punch and modified it to fit the job:
The gap in
the bearing housing is approximately 7 mm, so we cut the centre punch so that
we would be able to expand the gap as much as possible. We then gently punched
our modified punch in with a ball-peen hammer.
You should
now be able to gently punch the bearing housing down and off the strut using a
rubber mallet or equal. Be sure that the wishbone and tie rod is out of the way
as you otherwise won't be able to get the housing far enough down to get off
the strut!
Now we just
need to disconnect the strut at the top and pull the coilover out. First, remove the strut top cover cap if you haven't already done it
Then,a cranked 21
mm spanner and a torx T45 bit would be the tools to use here. The torxbit is used to keep the hole strut for turning when you loosen the strut nut, just as with the ball joints.Unfortunately, we didn't
have the right spanner so we had to make our own tool from a M14 nut and an old
spark plug key:
Fit the
spring compressor and tighten until the spring does not create force on the
spring plate:
Use the
21mm spanner and T45 bit again to remove the spring plate:
You don't
need to compress the H&R springs to fit them:
All we
need to do now is assemble the whole front suspension again. It's pretty straight
forward as it is the dismantling done in reverse
Remember to turn the
strut to fit correctly in the gap of the wheel bearing housing, torque the nuts
and bolts down to specified torque and fit the hoses and wires:
Now we move on
to the rear suspension, which is a really easy and quick job to do! Simply
loosen the bolts at the bottom of the rear shock absorbers to pull the rear
axle down and remove the old springs:
Move the
rubber spring plates onto the H&R springs and fit them. Remember to torque
down the shock absorber bolts:
If you were
to fit a complete suspension kit with new shock absorbers, all you would need
to do to get the rear shock absorbers off is to remove the side trims of the
trunk and loosen the top nuts. The side trims are held with bolts and clips,
but is a quick task to do as well.
This is the
outcome of the hours spent:
As I came home after a 50 km drive it felt (looked) like the springs had already settled a bit.
I'm very pleased
with the new ""go kart""� feel of the up! and I'm eager to get the wheels aligned
at a garage so that I can finally call it a job done [
That's all
for now
Edited by: RasmusTJ