kday
December 26th, 2013, 16:12
I replaced the upper links this past weekend but I went in "blind", not really knowing how it was going to work. There is a lot of info out there about replacing these arms on other C5s (especially the steel suspension versions) but there are some differences with the RS6, most significantly the fact that you can't remove the whole strut assembly from the car if you have DRC. This turns out to not be a major issue. Here is a quick writeup for those who like to know what they're getting into ahead of time. (Bentley is mostly useless for this procedure.)
First you remove the infamous pinch bolt. First I undid the locknut, then I sprayed the bolt with PB Blaster and let it soak for an hour. Then I used an impact wrench on the bolt until it started to turn. I went slowly with lower air pressure to start since I was worried about snapping the bolt. It did eventually turn and once it did I applied some force along the axis and was able to push and pull the bolt out while it was turning.
Once the locknut was out I used a ball joint separator (OTC 6297) and an appropriately sized 1/4 drive socket to push the ball joints out of the spindle.
http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-12-21-23.10.49-1024x579.jpg
The other ends of the control arms are inaccessible in situ. Once the three bolts up in the engine bay and the lower bolt attaching the strut to the lower control arm are removed you can pivot the strut assembly out to undo the inner bolts.
http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-12-21-23.41.51-1024x579.jpg
There is not a whole lot of slack in the DRC hose but there is enough.
So there you have it. Not a bad job at all. Next up for me: wheel bearings.
First you remove the infamous pinch bolt. First I undid the locknut, then I sprayed the bolt with PB Blaster and let it soak for an hour. Then I used an impact wrench on the bolt until it started to turn. I went slowly with lower air pressure to start since I was worried about snapping the bolt. It did eventually turn and once it did I applied some force along the axis and was able to push and pull the bolt out while it was turning.
Once the locknut was out I used a ball joint separator (OTC 6297) and an appropriately sized 1/4 drive socket to push the ball joints out of the spindle.
http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-12-21-23.10.49-1024x579.jpg
The other ends of the control arms are inaccessible in situ. Once the three bolts up in the engine bay and the lower bolt attaching the strut to the lower control arm are removed you can pivot the strut assembly out to undo the inner bolts.
http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-12-21-23.41.51-1024x579.jpg
There is not a whole lot of slack in the DRC hose but there is enough.
So there you have it. Not a bad job at all. Next up for me: wheel bearings.