Ok thanks, I will take a look on Friday.

Thanks, but where is the actuator to be precise?

John

After 4 months off road whilst I replaced the suspension air bags & replaced the seals in the air compressor, the car is back on the road.

But Cruise control has stopped working! Any ideas what it could be?

The battery was disconnected for 2 weeks whilst i did the above jobs.

Thanks

John

Hallelujah, done it.

As advised, I put the bottom pin in, jacked up the rear axle a bit [put an axle stand under as well] to hold it in place & connected the pipe. I then started it up & the top of the bag protruded through the gap the extra 1-2 mm required to get the pin in comfortably.

Many thanks for the advice over the last few days, next its the compressor which I aim to refurbish this week.

John

I did think about that, but what holds the bag in place after connecting the air line?

Do you jack up the axle to keep it in place?

If so is it safe to start up the car with the jack/axle stand under the axle?

Whilst access is tight I managed to get the angle grinder into remove 90% of the rust, & then used a wire brush & chisel to remove all the rest that I could see.

But I intend to give it another go tomorrow.

In the mean time I fitted a cutting tool to the drill and reduced the 'rim' on the top [where it meets the underside of the suspension mount/plate] of the old air bag by about 1 mm. I then tried it & it fitted straight away. Although it was not exactly level around the whole of the circumference [the surface it was meeting was not exactly level either due to rust & rust removal], So if trying to remove any excess rust/indentations etc does not work tomorrow, then I am going to apply the same idea to the new air bag.

I will let you know what happens.

John

So this morning with the vernier gauge I have measured the tops of the 2 air bags, old & new, & they are identical, so much for my eyesight!

I have pushed the old one back onto position & it is barely much better than the new one, but enough to get the pin in. But this explains why I had such trouble removing the pin & hence it breaking.

Still at a loss to know what to do though.

After a further 3 hours tonight I have got no further & I am at a loss to know what to do, so any advice would be appreciated.

I have had the angle grinder under the air bag top mounting cleaned it all out, but still the hole for the clip does not protrude enough. I managed to just get the clip in but it will not come out of the other side, & ultimately whilst trying to force it the bag just dropped & it became clear that was not going to work. Particularly as there is so little room to work in.

Comparing the old bag to then new one the old one clearly has an advantage of 1-2mm in the section that protrudes through when the top of the bag mates with the mounting, & that is the difference between getting the clip in & not.

Initially I tried this bag on the other side but when it looked difficult to fit I tried the other airbag & it went on OK. Could this be a defective airbag? Difficult to see how in all reality but I am clutching at straws, I have even considered filing down the top of the plastic where it mates with the mounting, that's how desperate I am!

All 4 have been difficult in different ways but I have no answer to this so I am hoping someone out there can offer something that will work.

John

So I do not know what to do, any thoughts?

I managed to get the angle grinder in the other side as I had the same issue, but it was not as bad.

I tried the drill & wire bit first but it was not effective enough. I did think of hammerite funnily enough. Once I have cleaned it all up I will put some on later & hopefully finish the job tomorrow morning when I am off.

Thanks for the tip

John

After having issues with 3 bags completed, I confidently went out this evening expecting to back inside in 2 hours, oh foolish man.

This car cannot have anything done on the suspension in years.

Took me 20 minutes to hammer the rear wheel off the NS, this did not bode well. On the n/s there were 4 pipes in front of the air pipe connection which made getting to the connection much more difficult. The top pin was stuck & then broke, & because of the 4 pipes it was not easy to just stick a chisel in & belt it. Then the bottom pin took some getting out, but eventually it was out.

But I now cannot get the new bag to protrude through the top for me to get the pin in, so at 10.15 pm I have called it a day. I will have to get the angle grinder to clean up the underside where the top of the bag locates as there is plenty of rust there, & hope that does the trick.

This may not be a difficult job in terms of know how, but it sure can be awkward when rust plays its hand.

Having now done 3 of the air bags I have noticed that 3 of the wheel nuts are damaged & were difficult to remove.

Where is the best place to get replacements?

John

Oh yes still salt the roads!

No I had removed the clip, but I read the bit about using a chisel to smash the plastic housing to get it out.

It would have saved a lot of hassle if I had read it before starting

I went back & read what had been said on here & got it off, my own stupid fault i should have read what had been said again before starting.

Anyway 1 rear done.

J

HELP!

What have I done to deserve this I do not know?

Got all the clips & pipe off the rear OS no problem, but the bag is stuck in the top, it will not move.

I have had a crowbar in trying to lever it out & it will not move. I have even got an old axe head & tried to hammer that in, but to no effect, it just gives a bit & then springs back into place.

I have tried penetrating spray & have no idea what to try next.

Any ideas.

BTW whats the torque setting for the wheels?

Bottom clip can put up a bit of a fight getting it out

This was the understatement of the year! This car cannot have had new air bags for years, everything was rusted to destruction, & i have only done the front O/S!

The top clips just fell apart when I tried to remove them. But that was not the main problem.

The bottom pin took over 3 hours to remove, in the end it broke so I ended up putting a cold chisel through the gap between the chassis [as per the advice for the rears] & the air bag to smash the plastic base & even then the pin would not come out of the base, when it was in my hand.. Thankfully putting the new one back was easier, although the initial restart exposed an air leak where the pipe entered the air bag, but a firm push sorted it. I then could not get more than 2 of the clips for the wheel arch lining back in, they were too flexible with wear & age, but thankfully I had already ordered some new ones which should arrive tomorrow.

So 8 hours, yes 8 hours to do the front O/S, but I learnt a lot & but for the fact that I am shattered I actually enjoyed it, there is something about triumphing over adversity.

Thanks for the advice, we go again tomorrow morning, with the knowledge & experience of today!

Thanks

John

Hi

Airbags & clips have arrived OK, but just a question before I start on Monday.

I imagined that the metal piece [not sure it is the collet] where the air pipe enters would push down easily, but it doesn't. In fact iIcannot get it to move, so;

Is this just stiff & I need to apply more pressure, or is the collet actually attached to the air pipe & will come off with the pipe when the pipe is removed [or does the collet nee to be removed from the old air bag]?

I have looked a ta few youtube videos & it looks the same as my new bags, but the metal piece where the pipe enters will not move on my bag[s]. Or is it the case that it only moves when the pipe is in it & pushed down?

I am a little confused.

Thanks

John

Actually just had a look m & they are £46 + VAT at island & LR Direct does not have them in stock.

So £55 a corner looks like a bargain!

Cheers Guys

Many thanks for that, much appreciated.

Only question is where is best to get the Dunlop air bags from?

Thanks

John