Hi, bit of advice please, managed to source a Sierra donor for the rear end but I have to remove it myself.
Guy tells me he has a 2 tonne trolley jack a yard and a kettle.....

Any advice on what I will need and how to tackle it would be appreciated.

Bill

Axle stands of course. I think I found an angle grinder was the easiest way to get rear bits off. aAso used it to remove and save the VIN number on the floor by the driver's door. Be careful to save the long bolts holding the diff to the body.




[Edited on 5/7/11 by Macbeast]

The rear axle sits on its own subframe, just undo the mountings, chop the cables and disconnect the propshaft.

Its a heavy lump, have the jack supporting all the weight of the parts, you will want some decent axle stands to get the body up in the air, I would not want to jack the car up and have this lot drop on my head.

You can remove the diff, hubs etc seperately, if bolted on halfshafts you will need decent hexagonal keys, if push in then expect a head full of ep90 oil unless you drain first.

Tip, before you remove anything crack the hub nuts, these are very tight so a long breaker bar is required, if the car drives attach and drive the car forwards or backwards using the ground to push the bar, one of the nuts is left hand thread, the off side from memory.

Regards Mark

easiest way I've found is to take the whole rear beam (sub-frame) off

use saftey goggles when your underneath - or you will get lumps of rust in you eyes

as for tools make sure you take your socket set inc 15mm (preferably with single hex sockets and a long lever/power bar), spanners, hammers, hacksaw, releasing oil, levers, bolt cutters (I've probably forgotten something, but I'm sure someone here will add to this...)
you could use an angry grinder for some of this, but remember your right next to the fuel tank

jack it up as high as you can and properly secure it with axle stands or similar (I used a big pile of old sleepers) - just be really, really sure that it can't squash you as your going to be underneath and will need to use a bit of effort to get some of the bolts loose....
and bear in mind the chassis might not be that solid in places.... (one of my jacks disapeared through the sill on one of mine - the car dropped 8" in less than a second )

take the wheels off so you can get acsess behind them

then disconnect the prop shaft (either at the diff or remove the centre bearing clamps & rubber dounut bolts)
if you take it off at the diff flange - save the bolts! (they are M10x1.0 - very fine pitch and hard to get hold of )

disconnect the dampers, brake lines, handbrake cables, ABS sensor wires and any other bits and bobs that are connected to the chassis (I used bolt cutters and a hacksaw for most of this )

then its best to best to stick the jack under the diff to take its weight

then remove the two rear beam mounting bolts (one each side at the front, they go through a big rubber bush) - these 'will' be tight

you might want to put the wheels back on at this stage (so the they take the shock of the landing), but could be easier just to put something underneath the hubs for them to land on (old tyre or similar) this way you won't loose access

then remove the diff rear mount (I found it easiest to take out the 4 bolts that hold it to the chassis) - make sure you not underneath the rear beam/ diff when you do this - just incase your one does just drop out easily (unlikly but you neve know)

it should now be sitting on the jack, so in theory if you lower the jack it'll drop down slowly - in reality the rubber bushes on the front mounts will probably not want to let go
if you let the back drop too far it'll twist on the mounts and make it even worse, so I'd drop it 2 - 3 inches then 'presuade' the front ones a bit (I use a 6ft lever)

and you should end up with this:


mind you that was the second one I did and I cheated



then you can remove the driveshafts / hubs at your leasure - if it has bolt on shafts then you'll need a T40 torx bit (actually you'll probably need 2 or 3, they are a nighmare) clean them as best you can and soak them in releasing oil before you try and take them out


[edit]like mark says, loosen the hub nuts with the car on the ground before you start - they are really tight



[Edited on 5/7/2011 by mcerd1]

[Edited on 5/7/2011 by mcerd1]

Thanks guys, brilliant info, photos are a real bonus.
Now its time to call in a few favours to get a hand to do it next Monday night.
Will let you know how I get on....
Also can someone confirm for certain which hub nut is left hand thread?
Cheers
Bill

[Edited on 5/7/11 by wombat]

[Edited on 5/7/11 by wombat]

Also can someone confirm for certain which hub nut is left hand thread?
Cheers


You just have to look carefully at the thread on the hub

The left hand threaded nut will have little notches in it - I believe this applies to all LH thread nuts.
It will be the passenger side.
Ian

^^ if your lucky they might even still have the ford nuts on them (i.e. not ones from a motorfactor) in which case the the RH threaded one will have a blue nylock insert and the LH one will have a yellow insert (aswell as the notches on the side of the nut)

Thanks guys - notches n nylocs, understood.

Ta

A big thanks guys, rear end off with ease, luckily the engine n gearbox were already out and rear bumper off so much easier to get it in the air. All the bolts came out really easy, probably because the car had been in dry storage for yonks (allegedly). Followed your advice and to be honest it was a piece of cake.
Undid hub nuts on car as advised and indeed passenger side had notches in nut, drivers side had blue paint on nut.
Now sits in garage on the trailer waiting to be stripped out (have to return subframe as guy sold arms to stock car boys).
Had a good deal and also managed to get handbrake, lower steering column/joint and interior mirror.

This guy also got hundreds of brake shoes and pads etc(bought as a job lot from a bust motor factor) for allsorts, so if anyone needs anything give me a shout and I will enquire for you.

Thanks again guys
Bill

sounds like you had it easy, but then both of mine had sat in a field for 6+ years

Hi all, well nearly got all the donor parts refurbed, just need to use your expertise again..

Cortina front hubs - what wheel studs do I need to get for alloy wheels?

Sierra rear hubs - Do I need to change these for longer? If so what sort?

Cheap supplier would be good too.

Ta

Hi all, well nearly got all the donor parts refurbed, just need to use your expertise again..

Cortina front hubs - what wheel studs do I need to get for alloy wheels?

Sierra rear hubs - Do I need to change these for longer? If so what sort?

Cheap supplier would be good too.

Ta

^^ depends on the wheels you've got, some need longer than others - try them and see how much longer they need to be

to get the length, I measured my wheels like this:

wheel_nut_sketch

then added on the thickness of the hub flange (and disc in my case) and pick the nearest size using my measurement as a max. size

the min. length they can be is enough to get the nut on properly - there are old threads on this forum about this

(can't remember what the proper defanition is, personaly I go for the bolt dia. + 2 thread pitches: M12 + 2*1.5 = 15mm of thread inside the nut - please double and triple check this before buying...)


rally design stock a decent range of sizes and lenghts: http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/index.php?cPath=731_735

[Edited on 8/8/2011 by mcerd1]

Thx mcerd1, makes sense, havent bought wheels yet so was trying to be ahead of the game by ticking off a few more parts that were ''finished''.

Cheers

best to wait till you know what wheels you've got then - if you end up with spacers like I did you may need much, much longer studs