Upper rear wishbone

**quattromark** · 30-07-2024,06:03 PM

Having had a bit of a scoot around under the car earlier - its possible I have found the cause of the annoying knocking sound coming from OSR.
There seems to be a lot of play when I use a small prybar on the wishbone - seems to travel axially along its fixing bolt quite easily.....

Am I wrong or do you have to drop the fuel tank AND subframe AND rear diff AND rear exhaust section to get the top bolt out??? - seems crazy!!!

Mark

**Crasher** · 31-07-2024,01:48 PM

The upper transverse link 1? Then yes, the subframe has to be dropped because of the bolt 20, Audi say it takes less than 3 hours which is hysterical.

**quattromark** · 27-08-2024,03:54 PM

So had a look at this again yesterday with the car up in the air ( as opposed to me lying in a puddle on the driveway).

3hrs you say? - if I can find a dealer that will guarantee that then i'll take it to them!

The subframe has to drop AT LEAST 65mm for the bolt to clear the fuel tank - that's for N/S - O/S is a little less.

However, there is only 30mm between the subframe and the exhaust, which means the latter half of both exhausts HAVE to come off (not difficult I agree, but still time consuming).

The rear diff is held in position by the subframe, so the drive shafts AND the prop shaft have to be removed and then drop the whole lot.

I'm no expert on time and motion, but 3 hours?????????

Mark

**Crasher** · 27-08-2024,08:28 PM

Some of the book times are a joke, many need a zero after them. They take no account of age for a start and the practicalities of not having the exact tools and parts to hand plus experience of having done the job multiple times, if anyone committed to the book time thay are either stupid or deluded.

**gareth23** · 29-08-2024,11:38 AM

I once spoke to a local retired mechanic who still does some jobs about changing the top arms, he reckoned it could take 2 days due to rust.

Worst case he would need to get some assistance as the sub frame mounting bolts can shear the captive nuts in the body as they are spot welded to the chassis, that means stripping some of the interior and cutting holes to access the nuts from the top.

A minor positive is you might be able to leave the rear drive shafts attached as the subframe should drop out as a unit....

**quattromark** · 29-08-2024,02:50 PM

I was looking at 3 days TBH as I have planned to re bush the 3 bushes in the axle guide and the single bush in the wheel hub - and just a direct replacement for the transverse link and track rod.
I'm thinking if I remove the hub/axel guide assembly first to re bush it, there will be more room to drop the subframe.

**Crasher** · 29-08-2024,04:06 PM

We are just doing all the ams and a DRC KW coilover conversion on a 10 year old RS4, the corrosion to the steel parts of the running gear is shocking, when the tech took the front lower cover off, thick lumps of rotten steel fell on the floor from God knows what and the oil cooler brackets each side are about to let the coolers go walkies. The front back plates were completely rotten and on back order plus we dare not have them blasted and powder cited as there would be nothing left. The rot to the rear subframe is alarming. The front upright outer bolts were the worst I have ever seen, we chopped the arms off and stuck the upper mounts in the ultrasonic tank for two days and the metals came up like new but the bolt head just snapped off. The engineer who drills them for us could not believe how stuck in there they were.

We have a 10 year old Alltrack in, MOT failure on both lower rear arms rusted through.

**smiffypr** · 30-08-2024,09:52 AM

That's what I would expect.....if it was a Fiat!

**Crasher** · 30-08-2024,11:05 AM

With it half off, the bolts are seized so it's air saw time (done three, tingling fingers), the spring was broken and I would say the arm would have let the spring through within a year.