Any write-up on replacing the airspring?
03-08-2007, 09:41 AM
#3
Member
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 3,703
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Start soaking pinchbolt with penatrating oil several days before you start
. Put car in jack mode, place on lift or jack stand, be careful. Remove tire. Remove nut from upper arms pinch bolt. Use air hammer with thin punch , or hammer with thin punch to knock pinch bolt out. Remove pinch bolt from lower arm strut mount. Be careful. Remove battery tray cover. Unbolt 3 16 MM bolts holding upper strut mount. Carefully remove strut and spring. Be careful. Remove triple square bolts holding upper strut plate together. Remove 17 mm Nut holding strut to plate. Remove spring by pulling. Note orientation of air line. Replace orings with supplied ones from install kit. Lube with silicone grease. Slide new bag into place with CORRECT airline orientation. Assemble upper plate using new bumpstop supplied in kit. Reinstall strut. DONOT tighten lower arm pinch bolt until last, when you have everything else tight. Jack lower arm up to approximate the ride height of wheel at level 2, this is close to center of hub about equal with bottom of rocker panel. Tighten lower arm pinch bolt. Be careful. Reinstall wheel. Lower car, turn air system back, on wait until ride height equals. Drive.
03-08-2007, 11:31 AM
#5
Without knowlege it took me about 3 hours..
you will need a special tool.. a multi star driver. NOT A TORX. Its a brake socket available at NAPA, it fits the mounting bolts of the top of the spring assembly. You get new bolts in the kit so take it to a NAPA stor for the fit/tool. 3.00 but you can't do it without.
I did it without removeing the control arms. Only the pinch bolt, wheel, etc. It a bit of twisting, but you will get it.
Don't forget to lock the suspension buttons. (I did not remove the battery cable.)
I also upon reassembly, did not let the jack lower the car all the way. Rather I lower it a few inches and then turned on the car and raised the suspension to the max..lifting it off the jack. This way no codes occured being the car never settled on the bump stop.
I did it without removeing the control arms. Only the pinch bolt, wheel, etc. It a bit of twisting, but you will get it.
Don't forget to lock the suspension buttons. (I did not remove the battery cable.)
I also upon reassembly, did not let the jack lower the car all the way. Rather I lower it a few inches and then turned on the car and raised the suspension to the max..lifting it off the jack. This way no codes occured being the car never settled on the bump stop.
03-08-2007, 12:11 PM
#7
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 792
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Good description. Here's where I got slowed down.
- Lower strut mount. Getting the bolt out was no problem, but I needed a pickle fork to separate the joint. I couldn't really bring a hammer to bear well enough. A pickle fork isn't quite the right tool for the job -- it can damage ball joint boots.
- Factory assembly nut. In addition to the three 16mm bolts holding the upper strut mount to the body, there's a spring nut holding it in place. I read that this is simply an assembly aid for the factory and can be discarded. But these spring nuts are a pain to remove. I think I finally cut it off with a hacksaw.
- Disassembling the bladder from the strut requires you to insert a socket, then insert an allen wrench into the center of the socket. These means you can't plug a socket wrench into the socket. I think I used a vise-grip on it. But the real question was whether I would be able to apply enough torque to loosen the allen bolt. It was a near thing.
- It helps to jack up the lower control arm even when putting the upper pinch bolt in. If you leave everything dangling, the upper ball joints tend to pop back out of their sockets before you can get the pinch bolt in.
- Factory assembly nut. In addition to the three 16mm bolts holding the upper strut mount to the body, there's a spring nut holding it in place. I read that this is simply an assembly aid for the factory and can be discarded. But these spring nuts are a pain to remove. I think I finally cut it off with a hacksaw.
- Disassembling the bladder from the strut requires you to insert a socket, then insert an allen wrench into the center of the socket. These means you can't plug a socket wrench into the socket. I think I used a vise-grip on it. But the real question was whether I would be able to apply enough torque to loosen the allen bolt. It was a near thing.
- It helps to jack up the lower control arm even when putting the upper pinch bolt in. If you leave everything dangling, the upper ball joints tend to pop back out of their sockets before you can get the pinch bolt in.
