Replacing Rear Ram Gaitor.

[ESL57]

I have a slight leak on O/S ram. It has been spilling on ground lately from jacking up etc.

  This was my plan on doing it.

   Reverse car onto wheel ramps. Set suspension on low. Remove the wire circlip pin. If I open bleed screw and free the rod end, will I be able to push the rod into cylinder enough to get new boot on? I will empty the ram contents into jar with bleed tube submerged in the fluid/

 I have a new boot/gaitor and a new bottom wire clip. It looks like the narrow end of gaitor is just a tight squeeze fit over the thinner end of piston rod?

    Hoping that this will keep fluid in there and I may rebuild ram next year. I have all the new seals.

        Is there any flaws in that schedule above?

[paul.h]

If the gaiter is leaking then most likely the strut needs replacing since it is filling with oil leaking passed the strut seals. I had this a few years ago, replaced the gaiter following the Haynes manual but it did not stop the leak so I had wasted the cost of the gaiter/clip/lds fluid and an afternoon. You can buy the seals from Citroen but it does not guarantee a fix so a dealer would not offer this solution. Labour cost at a dealer is at most 1 hour to replace the strut and the parts costs are the same whether diy or dealer. If you diy replacing the strut you will need to buy a sphere removal tool at about £15, so knocking this off the labour cost it does not cost that much for a dealer to replace the strut.

 

If you insist on replacing the gaiter the procedure is something like this:

a few days before check if the R pin is loose - if not soak it in oil hoping it will free or it may need drilling out, you need to raise the car to max height, disconnect the battery (follow the procedure in the Common Problems pinned topic) so the pump does not run, slacken the lds tank cap to release the pressure, put the body (not axle) back end on axle stands (if you do not use axle stands when the bleed screw is undone both sides of the car rear will drop onto the bump stops squirting out fluid and waste a lot of lds fluid), put a cup under the rear bleed screw, note on the new gaiter the vent hole positions and I seem to remember a square bit where the clip goes and note these on the existing gaiter so it is positioned correctly, remove the R pin, crack open the rear bleed screw and then jack up the wheel of the leaking strut - lds fluid will then drain out, once the wheel is high enough it should be possible to remove the strut end out of the axle socket, close the bleed screw, remove the old gaiter and strut end, change the gaiter, grease the socket, fit the R pin, lower the wheel, remove the axle stands, fit the tank cap, connect the battery, run the engine, raise/lower the suspension, check/top up the lds level.

[ESL57]

Thanks Paul.  Glad I asked as my procedure was wayyyy off! :D

  The right ram is £144 plus post from Eurocarcare and £166 from Citroen.  From my experience of rebuilding slave cylinder and MC on old Land Rovers, it is always better to fit a seal kit before any leaks. Seal kits are actually service kits rather than "rebuild kits" as they will not remedy wear in a cylinder. On that premise, you may be correct on renewing the whole unit.

  I have all the seals anyway. It just might be that the seals are gone with no wear on bore. We will see. I have the sphere tool anyway and plenty time.  I have noticed that a few people have renewed boot and seals with success. So hit and miss it is. 

   The other advantage of a new ram is that you don't have the possible corrosion on the sphere end. Will post up on results or failure  :lol:

[paul.h]

If you are going to replace the gaiter then you may as well do the seals at the same time since you have the parts, Haynes says this can be done with the strut still on the car and that the piston is pulled out, but I do not know how easy that would be.

 

A few extra things I noted when replacing the gaiter,

- fit the clip to it before putting it on the strut,

- mark the old gaiter and strut with tippex before removing to help with correct positioning of the new one,

- a bit of grease on the piston rod helps the gaiter fit over the end of it,

- after jacking up the relevant wheel hub and opening the bleed screw to let out lds fluid, it was then closed and the wheel hub lowered back down and the strut rod could then be moved by hand out of the socket without needing any tools.

[ESL57]

 Actually Paul, that was my next question in putting the seals on while I was there  :D

 Thanks for going the extra mile with the detail.