Front control arms, shocks and axle boot replacement

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

I’ve almost finished gathering all the parts I need. Shocks should arrive Wednesday. Got around 102k miles. Want to keep the car at least 50-60k more (hopefully, longer?), so it makes sense to me to do this work now, rather than later, so I can enjoy the tighter ride instead of driving the car into the ground. The handling has been noticeably looser over the last 1-2k miles, and I know at least the upper control arm bushings are shot.

Will be replacing:

all front control arms and stabilizer links (using OE Lemforder)
front stabar bushings
Bilstein B8 sport shocks
front strut mounts; rear shock mounts
front inner axle boots
hardware for the above (new nuts, bolts, washers)

Quick question: there seems to be a few minor snafus with the hardware order (some missing bolts). But, also wanted to double check that I received the correct lower control arm bolts. The rear lower arm is 112mm from the underside of the hex head to the last thread (a bit too long?), and the front lower arm is 85 mm from the underside of the hex head to the last thread (no point at end and no shank…maybe superseded p/n?). Can anyone confirm that has this apart or has the old fasteners? (I ran out of daylight today, and won’t be able to get the underbelly pan off for at least a few days to try and measure myself).

I’m happy to post photos on my project or answer any questions along the way if that helps anyone. Found a lot of great info on this board and YouTube. (Won’t be able to get to this for 3 more weekends due to vacation and other time commitments though).

#2

And can someone tell me how to post photos. Tried with “additional options” and doesn’t seem to work. TIA.ß

#3

I would reuse the original bolts. I’ve replaced all my control arms and reused the bolts with no issue.

Not sure where you’re located but the upper pinch bolt may give you some grief, once you do get it out I would get some antiseize on it when reinstalling.

As for the axles a good trick for rotating the axle to get at all the bolts is to have at least 2 wheels off the ground so it can rotate. I also put blue locktite back on the axle flange bolts at the transmission when reinstalling.

as for the picture posting, I use photobucket (free account) upload to their site and then copy the url link back into the message on here.

http://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/articles/200724424-Linking-to-Forums

#4

Nice maintenance, this will bring it back to a nice handling sports sedan. The control arms alone and new bushings make it night and day.

#5

Put the new rear shocks and mounts in w/ my 13 yo son a couple of nights ago. Very fast, easy job. Already a huge difference.

Can’t wait to tackle the front shocks, mounts, links and axles this w/e…

#6

FWIW, here’s the fastener info (assuming both sides). I appreciate most do not use new fasteners, but some of them are TTY, and it’s nice to have new fasteners after 10 years of corrosion on the original ones.

upper control arms:
N10425302 bolt x4 50Nm +90 deg
N10286110 nut x4
N10491802 pinch bolt x2 45Nm
N10406105 pinch washer x2
N10272302 pinch nut x2

front shocks:
N10241202 LCA bolt x2 90Nm +90deg
N10106402 LCA nut x2

lower control arms:
N91016602 LCA bolt x2 70Nm +180deg
N90625902 LCA bolt x2 70Nm +180deg
N10106402 LCA nut x4
N90965602 LCA nut-knuckle x4

stabar links:
N10516702 bolt x2 40Nm +90deg
N10425302 bolt x2 40Nm +90deg
N10286110 nut x2

rear shocks:
N10549402 bolt x2 150Nm +90deg
1K0505193 washer x2
N10401801 nut x2

#7

Pinch bolt removal not going well…bolt end spins slowly. But threads at nut end do not budge. Must be sheared off somewhere in the knuckle.

Anyway, tips to get out of this mess are much appreciated. I’ve looked around and have seen quite a few approaches. At this point I think the whole hub housing has to come out so I can work on it on the bench.

#8

I used this today on a 2003 A4 and it worked very well. This requires an air hammer, of course. I used an electric impact in conjunction with the air hammer and it was the combination of the twisting and the hammering that made it come out in about 3 minutes.

Heat is another method I have used first hand, though use caution as to not over-heat due to the fact that the knuckle is aluminum.

You might be able to get another smaller bolt to hammer through and act like a pick from the other side in hopes of knocking it out without taking the entire knuckle off. Ideally the bolt will fit in the nut on the back end this way the nut acts as a guide while you hit it with a hammer. Once the bolt is recessed enough into the knuckle remove the nut at the end and continue using the bolt/hammer combination, possibly in conjunction with heat.

Good luck in whatever method you use! I’ve been down that road before and it really does suck. Hang in there cause it’s a great feeling once you get the damn thing out!

Oh… and put some anti-seize on it when re-installing to save yourself any headaches a few years down the road should you have to do it again!

#9

Well I removed the entire wheel hub housing from the car so I could work on removing the pinch bolt more easily.
I will get that tool. I saw it on ECS, but didn’t buy because I wasn’t sure how well it would work. Now I know!

So, “while your in there-itis” has hit, and I’m wondering whether I should replace the wheel bearings while I got the wheel bearing housing out? How often do these things fail? I couldn’t be more easy than right now…

#10

And, my hood strut suddenly fails during this project? What the heck? Talk about bad timing. ::slight_smile:

#11

usually around 100k miles they can fail. Do it while you’re in there. I don’t think that they are that expensive either.

As for the pinch bolt it takes heat, and an air hammer to get them out when seized. My friends and I have a system of how to remove them now, but we’ve collectively done 15 or 16 audis here in Canada where winter is -30 and tons of salt and summers are high 80s. We usually end up breaking off the head of the bolt, then heating up the area inbetween the pinches with a mapp gas torch (propane works too, mapp is faster) after that you can spray the area with penetrating fluid (i use a mix of acetone and transmission fluid now) and start with one person air hammering the sheared bolt head side and the other tightening the bolt to pull the bolt out… now you’ll have a stop a few time to cut the end of the bolt off as it slides backwards towards the steering arm, I used a sawzall, but after about an hour it’ll be out. They are a huge PITA, but I also know that you can take it off and do it on the bench.

When using the heat you’ll fry the upper control arms so only use this method if you are replacing those as well.

Word of advice, file the pinch bolt hole and apply generous antiseize to the bolt. You’ll be able to take it out much easier next time. As a rule I take mine out every fall now and apply a bit more antiseize to keep them from freezing up.

#12

Wheel bearings are replace as needed not as long as you are in there. Some times a wheel bearing won’t go bad for the life of the car. Some will go at 40k. Jyst a crap shoot but I’d save your money till you have to do them.

#13

Thanks for chiming in. That’s what I decided: wait until they need to be changed.

#14

With a hub at $160 or so for FAG brand from Blauparts or any other reputable site, I’d replace it while it was out. Pain in the ass to push the axle out of the way, breaking the 4 bolts holding the hub to the spindle, and also just hammering out the old hub. much much easier to do it on the bench.

just my opinion.

#15

ok, drive side is completely disassembled (save the pinch bolt from the wheel bearing housing).

Axle is out due to torn inner CV boot. Seems to me that inner CV has some play and I can get it to click. May be because joint is dry, but I think I should replace it although it was not making any noise when driving. I just don’t know how long the boot has been cracks. Same is true for the passenger side.

Can I just buy the inner joint?

#16

It appears I can buy a remanufactured joint (p/n 4E0498103x) as a VW part from Jim Ellis online for $274 +$100 core charge. I’m assuming this is a GKN reman part, but will confirm. So far, that seems to be the way to go. Open to other ideas, but looking to stay away from Febi and other generic/unknown axles.

#17

Let’s try this.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMTq0FtRN_LEzyk7xhyQzh__D_K0kiSIBoVbMkd

#18

Sorry, that was supposed to be a picture. Still can’t figure that out. ::slight_smile:

Anyway, I got the joint apart. Maybe the slight clicking noise was that there was virtually no grease left in the joint? No pitting or apparent hot spots, so perhaps I’m ok?

Also, I don’t know if I complete screwed this up, but I do not have the CV housing orientation marked relative to the tripod. I planned on doing that after I “carefully” removed the housing, but of course it flew off and I have no idea how it mated up with the tripod. Is that mission critical, or does that completely ruin the whole effort?

I could repack and put the new boot on and see how it goes. I don’t think it would be that hard to remove later.

Anyone have any real world experience with this?

#19

Sorry for not chiming in sooner.

As for the pictures its really easy

http://audirevolution.net/image_uploader.php

click the link make sure your photo is internet friendly size wise and just dont have a ton of numbers in the title and the upload is easy. From there you will have your own forum folder. from there if you have any issues we can help you more.

On the CV being ok even if it was out of grease. obviously a picture here would be helpful to see but if you dont see any whitness marks or pitting or hot spots and there was still some lube left on that could be whiped off I would say there is a good chance your in the clear. Still if you have any doubt change it out.

As for the orentation as long as I understand what you are talking about. If you have it put back together correctly you are fine just make sure when put back together everything is free moving

#20

Just wanted to agree here. wheel bearings are not cheap and its rare that they fail. For me it strongly falls in the if its not broken dont try to fix it as you most likely will never have to fix it if you just leave it alone. Inspect it while you have good access to it make sure its in good order and as mentioned if in doubt change it out