ClioSpyder
New Member
Well, started putting on the KW Suspension.............front first.
All was going well, but thought it might be a good idea to replace the Drop Links while I had the front in pieces, so ordered the parts from Renault.
They had to come from France as my Renault garage only had one side in stock - can't remember which side.
Anyway, after a weeks wait, they arrive and so I went to install - should be about a 10-15 minute job each side if you take your time and are as OCD as me.
Now I thought the new (Renault) nuts were slightly tight, but thought this is how they should be as they were a lock-nut after all.
I applied a little lubricant to aid the install and about 3 full turns the Allen-Key hole just rounded off........I was using a new high quality Allen-Key and it was a perfect fit.
I now had a nut stuck on the lower Ball-Joint unable to stop the Ball-Joint from spinning (whatever method I tried) - after over an hour out came the Hack-Saw - £70 down the pan !
I went back to the other Drop-Link and placed an M10 standard bolt on that to make sure Renault hadn't sold me the wrong size Nut - this bolt span on perfectly !?!
Going back to the Renault Bolts I looked at the threads - they are so heavily galvanized I've realised the threads need to be cleaned out - which I've done. But should I have had to ????
So, just a tip for anyone replacing the Drop-Links..........look at the nut threads first and clean out if required...........I did this for the N/S bolts and the Drop-Link went on no problem at all.
Lesson learnt the hard way - but if this helps someone out further down the line then all well and good.............just a pisser it's the Bank Holiday weekend and Renault parts aren't open until Tuesday before I can reorder and start again
Just wanted to share my pain,
Cheers, Hoogi
All was going well, but thought it might be a good idea to replace the Drop Links while I had the front in pieces, so ordered the parts from Renault.
They had to come from France as my Renault garage only had one side in stock - can't remember which side.
Anyway, after a weeks wait, they arrive and so I went to install - should be about a 10-15 minute job each side if you take your time and are as OCD as me.
Now I thought the new (Renault) nuts were slightly tight, but thought this is how they should be as they were a lock-nut after all.
I applied a little lubricant to aid the install and about 3 full turns the Allen-Key hole just rounded off........I was using a new high quality Allen-Key and it was a perfect fit.
I now had a nut stuck on the lower Ball-Joint unable to stop the Ball-Joint from spinning (whatever method I tried) - after over an hour out came the Hack-Saw - £70 down the pan !
I went back to the other Drop-Link and placed an M10 standard bolt on that to make sure Renault hadn't sold me the wrong size Nut - this bolt span on perfectly !?!
Going back to the Renault Bolts I looked at the threads - they are so heavily galvanized I've realised the threads need to be cleaned out - which I've done. But should I have had to ????
So, just a tip for anyone replacing the Drop-Links..........look at the nut threads first and clean out if required...........I did this for the N/S bolts and the Drop-Link went on no problem at all.
Lesson learnt the hard way - but if this helps someone out further down the line then all well and good.............just a pisser it's the Bank Holiday weekend and Renault parts aren't open until Tuesday before I can reorder and start again
Just wanted to share my pain,
Cheers, Hoogi
