monty-69
Post #1
Just thought i would share my experience with using ab axles so that others might not make the same mistake.. I decided to recondition the rear beam on my 306 hdi earlier this year. I have done several before so the plan was to do the job myself at home, on the offroad parking. Halfway throught the fix it became apparent that no puller or slide hammer would remove the torsion bars, so i removed the axle completely and took it to a mates garage for a bit of heat. Unfortunately the trailing arm shafts had worn through the bearings and nakerd the beam tube so it meant looking for another 2nd hand beam. During this time i got a new job and simply did not have time to continue the rebuild, so i contacted abaxles who could supply me a recon beam.. The owner sounded very knowledgeable on the phone so i payed £300 to abaxles for an recon beam. delivered ( included cost of surcharge and supplying larger 20mm bars). In the mean time i bought new hbrake cables, brakes, calipers, beam mounts, exhaust, basically everything from the fuel tank back.
During this time the car was on axle stands but ran out of mot and i was threatened with it being towed away as an abandoned vehicle. I did consider scrapping it and buying a more modern money pit but decided to stick with the ol pug. The recon axle arrived within a week of ordering and i booked a weekend off work to paint the boot floor and bolt everything back on the car. That was the plan..
I thought it odd that the axle was delivered with no packaging to protect the paint job. This however was the least of my problems. On closer inspection it was found that there was a gap on a trailing arm seal which would let in water, anti roll bar seals were missing, ride height was different side to side by about 4mm shock distance. The collars that the seals fit against were banana shaped and not pressed on straight. I was offered another axle or a full refund, but due to the threat of the car being towed away, my only option was to strip the beam down and fix it myself. I had lost confidence in ab axles, so basically i had to fully strip the beam, replaced the seals and collars, swap the tiny arb that was supplied and swap over the caliper hubs and stub axles ( these didnt come fiited to the trailing arms even though it only had a crappy paint job.).
In the end i had to bolt the axle back to the car one night in the pouring rain and darkness. £300 quid lighter.
Posted 27th Aug 2017 at 07:53
