jenkins214

Recently I replaced the front suspension in my wife's avant and I thought I would post some of my observations. Hopefully they can help someone else tackle the job.

First off, big thank you to Kris Hansen for his write up that he has on his personal website, here, it was my guide. There is also a good write up in the Tech articles. I think it is for an A4 but it was a great backup.

All and all this is not too bad of a job...Dirty...but not overly technical. I think anyone who can change brakes could do this job with a little research first and the right tools. Speaking of tools there were a few large metric sockets and box end wrenches that I needed to buy for the job. Odd sized if I remember right. Not usually found in the "sets" that I saw. I ordered the suspension from Blauparts (link). It's the Ocap kit with Meyle bushings and came with the heavy duty-tie rod ends. (more on that later).

First off PROPERLY get the car on heavy duty stands, this job requires some room to move under the car and apply a lot of pressure to hardware. You don't want to even think about it without stands! (there are lots of posts here about how to put the car on stands).

Ok, my observations and thoughts:

1st For the entire week before I started I sprayed the pinch bolt with penetrating oil everyday. I would simple jack one side up enough to see the bolt and shot it. When it came time to start I anticipated a struggle but they both came off by hand with no trouble what so ever. Really worked well for me, I think it gave the penetrating oil plenty of time to work its way in.

2nd I have seen some people ask if you need to pull the shock tower assembly out of the car to replace the upper control arms. I did and it was really an easy job. The bolts in the engine bay are easy to get to so why not. NOTE: there is a plastic `keeper' washer that is used to hold the tower in place from under the car (its on one of the bolts). Keep it. It makes putting it back together much easier. As for the upper control arms make sure you note their location. The new ones can be installed and tightened to spec out of the car very easily but need to be in the correct position, loaded. Check your Bentley manual if you have one or I think Kris had the page on his write up.

3rd My tie-rod ends were impossibly frozen on! I tried everything to loosen them up and eventually broke the rubber inside the bushing. The result...it would just spin. So I found it is much easier to remove the entire tie-rod. Here is what I did.

First here is a picture of the tie-rod:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/tie_rod.jpg">

First remove the outer clip to the boot:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/outer_clip.jpg">

Second, loosen the clamp on the inner part of the boot. It's helpful here to turn the steering wheel to full opposite lock.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/loosen_inner_clip.jpg">

Next, pull the boot towards you as far as you can. You will need to pull the outer part of the boot out of the groove. Then it should pull right to the end.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/groove_for_outer_boot.jpg">


Now you should be able to see where the tie rod meets the steering rack:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/inner_tie_rod_1.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/inner_tie_rod_2.jpg">

Now you can loosen the tie rod. I used a small pipe wrench to accomplish this. It is not on overly tight and once loose it spins right off.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/loosen_tie_rod.jpg">

and its out!

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/tie_rod_out.jpg">

Now that the tie rod is out you can go about separating the inner tie rod from the outer. Pull the boot as far to the inner side as possible then use a hack saw to cut the bolt. Note, cut the bolt as close to the outer tie rod as possible. You need the length of bolt to work with when removing it from the inner side. Note the comparison picture of the old outer end and the new outer end. It's hard to see but under the cut bolt/nut is rubber. That's we these crap out quick. See the new one is in metal and much sturdier.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/rusted_bolt_out.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/comparison.jpg">

Now join the new outer and old inner tie rods. Use anti seize compound.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/add_anti_sieze.jpg">

Next reinstall on the steering rack till hand tight, slight turn with the pipe wrench and done. Lastly, the clamps provided with the kit would not work for the inner part of the boot. I was able to reuse the old clamps with some very long needle nose pliers.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/clamp.jpg">

done.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/back_together.jpg">

Now put the tie rod end back into the knuckle. Notes on this one, the tie rod is notched, this goes towards the bolt. Also the bolt that goes thru the knuckle has a flat spot on the head the matches the knuckle. *see picks*.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/back_is_notched.jpg">


<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/notched.jpg">


<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/notch_toward_bolt.jpg">

Done with the tie rods!


4th Some last thoughts. When removing the lower rear control arm I found it necessary to loosen, not remove the subframe plate. I simple loosened the bolts to the subframe and it then provided ample room to remove the bolt. Kris has excellent pics this area, though he was able to remove his bolt without loosening the subframe.

5th Watch the sway bar links, they have an right side up and down. See pic. The top end has a rubber bushing to the lower control arm mounting point. The bottom has the rubber and metal bushing. I tried to put one upside down and backwards,,,,.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/sway_bar_links.jpg">

6th When installing the lower arms and links do not tighten the bolts to specs without have the suspension loaded. Otherwise you will exceed the limit of the bushings and blow them out in no time. I loaded the suspension by using my floor jack under the spindle.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/87804/jack.jpg">

That's it... all said and done it took the better part of a weekend. My first side took all day Saturday (thanks to the stuck tie rod end) and I replaced the entire outer cv joint with a new one. The other side took only 3-3.5 hours, experience is the best teacher.

And the best parts....I rides like a dream. Much tighter and more responsive in the steering. It was a great upgrade and I hope this helps someone else tackle it...

LRDOFTHERNGS

mine was replaced by the dealer under warranty about 2 months ago. nice difference

absolutcq20v

Excellent pics to add to the tech session.

NorCalS6

very tight access.

jenkins214

Yeah, even with the subframe plate loosened it was tight to get the bolt out. But with out loosening it the bolt was impossible to get out. It just didn't move.

NorCalS6

curious if there was different subframe designs.

MikekiM@PureMS

Those are steel uprights.

02 Silver Arrow

Great write up, thaks for taking the time from a dirty job to enlighten us

ModifiedA4

<i>For the entire week before I started I sprayed the pinch bolt with penetrating oil everyday</i>

I've always wondered if this would work, and I planned to do this very thing if/when I replace my control arms.

I am very happy to read that someone had success with this little bit of forethought!

Again, an excellent post!

davidpt6

Wow. Than you, this very helpful to me in replacing inner and outer tie rods on my 04 a6. only exception i had was that the inner and outers had froze. penetratingnoil, nor torch worked had to cut the outers.