Front suspension spring broke

[marco2002]

Thanks for that bit of advice, glued the rubber bit onto the lower part of the spring okay.

Just crunching the spring up with the coil compressor right now ready to fit tommorow. Seems to be harder with the new spring than the old spring. Only about another 40mm to do and that should be it. When you do this how many springs do you compress 3 or 4? just interested to know. I've tried to compress 3 springs starting from the 2nd one up might have to compress 4 if the top of the shock piston doesn't meet the top mount. what fun! I have to say it seemed a lot easier compressing the busted spring than the new one. Mind you the busted spring had a lot of give in it compared to the new one!

[steve_earwig]

Seems to be harder with the new spring than the old spring.

Bit saggy were they?

Just a thought - when I've been compressing springs (in the dim and distant past) I put an old towel around it, just in case it decides it's flying time...

[Longintooth]

Just take care - these springs have a non uniform shape and the top and bottom have a steep angle so I put a jubilee clip around the spring wire to stop it slipping under pressure. Some spring compressors have just one hook on each end which I don't like. Mine has two hooks on each end and I extend as wide as possible but I have to say it may well be worth getting two more to pull it together when the other two get nearly contracted and you won't get them equal. I've only had to remove a whole spring not a broken one on this car. Handle with care and keep it pointing away from you.

[marco2002]

Thanks for the advice. I've got a set of draper spring compressors they've got the 2 hooks at both ends like yours. The jubilee clips is a good idea better to be safe rather than sorry. I think you might be right about needing another set of spring compressors! the ones i've got will not compress 4 lots of spring it will only do 3. Measured distance from top of piston fully extended to top mount will be a bit short i think and thats with the spring compressors nearly in as far as they go.

The haynes manual shows a compressed spring with 4 lots of spring compressed so i guess the threads on their ones must be a bit longer....

Its strange because i did a set of springs on a 405 a couple of years ago and i definately didn't have to resort to two sets of spring compressors. Perhaps the springs were a bit shorter? Can't remember 100%......

Have to phone the hire shop tommorow and see if i can hire another set.

Anyway back off outside to do more spring compressing just came indoors for a quick cuppa!

[teamster1975]

Some spring compressors have just one hook on each end which I don't like.

Yep, mine have. And one of them shifted while I was changing the top bearing today; I unwound them pretty sharpish!
Bit of a brown trouser moment, I'm going to replace them with the two hooked type before I touch the suspension again!

[teamster1975]

Anyway back off outside to do more spring compressing just came indoors for a quick cuppa!

Well done Marco, I've not long finished! Supping on a beer now & cooking my tea!

[marco2002]

Seems to be a spate of snapped springs just lately. Hopefully once this is done that should be it for a while. Even thinking about looking at the shocks/springs on the rear now! Have a bit more money when i start new job in january.

[teamster1975]

I think I've been quite lucky! I cleaned the crud off the front springs on mine & they look to be pretty new! The damping seems pretty good on the front shocks too, no leaks. Haven't checked the rears since I did the anti-rollbar bushes and drop and top links.

[jasper5]

My method of fitting the spring compressors when they just don't quite reach, is to use a large pipe wrench to squash up the coils, enough to just squeeze the compressor over the next coil.Be very careful though, safety is a priority.
In fact,thinking about it, although I've never used that method, fit jubilee clips over the last two coils and screw them up so that you can get the compressors over the last coil.

One last point relating to the other thread about broken springs, I have changed about 20 front springs this year, not a single one of them had a problem with the top bearing.

The main cause of spring failure is down to age or pot holes in the road, speed bumps are also a problem for springs.

There are also some cars suspension, badly designed.

The main culprits for broken springs are.....

Fiesta fronts, Mondeo fronts, Corsa fronts and rears, Polo fronts, BMW rears, Punto fronts, these are a pain to compress also....Astra rears, Megane fronts.... the list goes on.

The main problem with the 406 is when the lower coil breaks, because the lower coil is smaller in diameter to the next coil up, the whole spring slams down past the lower spring mounting onto the wheel.

[marco2002]

When i compared old spring with the new one i was surprised how much give there was in the snapped spring (what was left of it!) I'm going to try the waxoyl thing that welton was talking about. I used to use a lot of it on the mini subframes years ago..........

I don't want to rock the boat here maybe this is a first? But when i took the strut/spring out and had a look at it on the workbench the bearing was knackered and the ball bearings fell out! lol

Thanks for the advice jasper i'll bear that in mind if i can't get another set of compressors from the hire shop i'd have never thought of what you said.....

[Longintooth]

ront springs on mine & they look to be pretty new! The damping seems pretty good on the front shocks too, no leaks.

It is a very unusual fault having a top bearing fault cause spring stress - in all my years have never seen such a poor arrangement. I would have always gone for shocker faults since springs don't like large and fast oscillations but they certainly don't like being wound up, as a former MOT examiner I would not have tested for this (with caveats of normal observations)- just damper bounce.

[teamster1975]

One last point relating to the other thread about broken springs, I have changed about 20 front springs this year, not a single one of them had a problem with the top bearing.

Really? I guess mine was just down to age, it is 12 years old. It was rough as anything when I tried to turn it.

[marco2002]

I'm just glad that the spring went as i drove away from home at slow speed not when i was doing 60mph on the dual carriageway. Its been off the road a couple of weeks while i got the parts but its not the end of the world just a few trips on the bus but it makes you realise how bad public transport is and how expensive it is. The local bus leaves every hour!(one bus per hour)
The bearing that came off my car looked like it had been on there a long time. It was very rusty. I've had the car for 2 years and spent a fair amount of money at a peugeot independent garage.

The signs were there though there was a very slight vibration through the steering wheel at about 70mph could not figure out what it was now i know!

[marco2002]

Just to let you know i had nearly wound the spring compressors up as far as they would go when one of the compressors slipped and I ended up with the preverbial one spring compressor tight and nowt on the other side the one that was on the other side slid round to the one thats still tight.

Fortunately i had an insurance policy two thick pieces of chain one either side with a high tensile nut/bult linking theends up. The moral is like a couple of other people have said already be careful when you are doing the spring and wear eye protection as well goes without saying really.

I have managed to hook a couple of humungous jubilee clips on the side thats gone uneven and just tightening them up very slowly with the chains still in place.
Lucky a bought a load of these jubilee clips the other day and I am surprised how much pressure they can take!

Just a thought but maybe i should have put a jubilee clip either side of each claw and then there would be no chance of any slipping. I think someone has said that before?

This has happened to me before I've got the draper spring compressors the ones with the two hooks at each end. I've seen other compressors where you get a set of 3 instead of 2 maybe thats a better idea as it must spread the pressure a bit more evenly..........

I will let you how i get on with it tonight......

[mjb]

be careful when you are doing the spring and wear eye protection as well goes without saying really

I wouldn't have thought a pair of goggles would really do much when faced with a huge great spring flying at your face with a massive amount of force. I was always under the impression decapitation would be more likely