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Front Torsion Bar

sussexr4

New Member
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3
Hi There everyone!

Just wondering if anyones has / knows of an article on how the front ARB on a R4 is installed. Mine has collapsed!!

Any help would be much appreciated to help me get the car on the road again!

Thanks.
 
I missed this post (sorry). The front anti-roll bar is held on to the chassis by some D shaped bits of rubber held on by metal clamps. These are unlikely to rust away as they are normally covered in engine oil.

The bar is attached to the suspension by a rusty bolt (that gets seized in) going through a nylon spacer into an oval rubber bush (like an exhaust hanger) with two holes in it - one for the bolt and the other for the end of the anti-roll bar. The bush is held together by a metal strap that goes all the way around. All of these parts rust, crack, and generally disintegrate so I'd guess this is your problem.

Try Renault for replacement parts. Failing that try Liam (you'll find him in the memberlist) for good secondhand parts. Failing that try a small exhaust hanger with a couple of sturdy jubilee clips around it to replace the mounting, or a big nut to replace the nulon bit. Failing that, has anyone tried a R4 without an anti-roll bar. Do they just roll?

:clementi:
 
Don't think an R4 without an ARB would be a good idea- they're bad enough with the minimum diameter one and a bit of play in the bushes! :shock:

Two questions: One, is this the Anti roll bar or a front torsion bar you are talking about (just checking)? Two, as far as I know Renault don't list or sell the ARB bushes individually any more- you have to go to a french motor factor, or Windclassics in Holland or the Reno4er (www.reno4er.de in Germany) to get indivdual bushes/rubbers which are very cheap.

PS if anyone has been able to get ARB bushes from Renault please let me know the current part number!
 
Pieter, you are correct - the ARB bushes are not available from Renault. I looked on the windclassics site and they can be obtained from them - I wish their site was in English as well!

Steve
 
ah. when i said ARB, what i REALLY meant was front torsion bar. Sorry!!

What has happened is that one side of the car has dropped a lot, and i think that the torsion bar is to blame. Just wondered how you check / replace it!

Sorry for the misleading post!
 
It's worth checking whether the front of the car or the rear is at fault. If you jack the car up at the rear right in the centre (by ingenious use of a long sturdy bit of wood with a bit of angle iron between it and the jack) and measure the height from the front hub centres to the wheelarches, then do the same for the rear by jacking up under the front of the car.

Rear suspension movement is much more common than front movement. Normally it's due to rust on the inner rear suspension mounting, although a repair with the holes drilled in the wrong place can do the trick. If it is a rust issue then the only real solution is to replace the rusty metal.

Torsion bars themselves don't normally sag, or at least don't sag unevenly so I'd be looking at the attachment points.
 
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