LR2 Rear Spacer DIY (hammer free) Installation Guide

Draft 14-10-2015

Scope

This instruction covers the installation of the Aluminium components shown in the image below.

Type in blue represent hints and explanatory notes, not process.

Type in red represents danger or caution.

Tools Required

Standard vehicle jack

Second jack: trolley version which has a low minimum height

Wheel chock

Wheel nut Spanner (21mm)

18mm offset ring spanner and socket

15mm ring spanner and socket

14mm ring spanner and socket

13mm long socket

Torque wrench (30 to 80 Nm) to fit sockets above

Two spring compressor clamps

Lead lamp/torch

Empty container to put all the bits in

Although it is doable by one person – with long arms - it is useful to have assistance, even if it is just to run

for help.

Introduction

This procedure is an update of previous versions supplied to clients, specifically adapted for the DIYer. In

photographs received from commercial installations, the process proved to be very invasive. The brake caliper,

handbrake cable and a number of links – sometimes also the drive shaft – were removed in order to swing the strut

outside of the wheel arch to allow access for removal of the top plate for modification.

During an investigatory installation – forced by the need to replace leaking rear struts - it was discovered that none

of the above is necessary, and that it is much easier to remove the strut completely and work on it outside the car,

where firstly you can see what you’re doing, not knock a dent in your car if the spanner slips and thirdly, support it

in a number of convenient ways.

Per illustration, refer the two images of how professional installers do it:

with the comparative DIY image:

Removal – LH side Shown

1. Ensure the parking brake is on and chock the front wheel of the selected side. Raise the car using the

standard jack and remove the wheel. Lower the jack again until the car is about level, as this will make

working more comfortable. This is what you should see now:

2. Remove the wheel arch lining. If you have mud flaps, this must come off first. It should now look like this

(showing spacer already installed):

The access gain is immediately apparent. The bracket at the top right holds the breather tubes (from the

rear differential) and filter. This has to be removed, as the top of the strut is inserted into this cavity when

removing/replacing it in the hub. This space is open on the RH side of the car, so no removal required.

3. Remove the two plastic tubes – just pull the clip off the bracket with the tubes still attached to it - and push

it out of the way.

4. Remove the two screws holding the filter bracket in place. A plastic tongue sliding beneath a saddle locates

it at the far right corner. Once the screws are out, wiggle the complete assembly until it drops down

vertically and store out of the way.

5. Remove the trim from inside the boot to gain access to the three nuts securing the top end of the strut to

the body. At this stage, it should look like this:

6. Undo the two inboard nuts and remove the NVH assembly, replacing the nuts finger tight. Slacken off the

outer nut.

7. Rotate the plastic central nut cap by a quarter turn – any direction - and lift it off the damper.

8. Break the torque on the strut nut by holding the shaft with a 6mm Allen key and undoing the nut a few

turns with an 18mm offset ring spanner. Do NOT undo the nut completely. See below:

This loosening of the nut is easy when the strut is still held solidly in position by the car. Once removed, the

strut is very difficult to immobilize against rotation when loosening this nut.

9. Undo the 15mm nut securing the upper end of the drop link from the MacPherson strut. If the stud does

not push out by hand, insert the second jack underneath the point where the trailing link attaches to the

hub, and raise it until the torsion on the anti-rollbar has been released. The link should now push out. It is

visible (undone) on the left of the DIY image in the Introduction.

10. Continue raising the second jack until it starts taking the weight of the car – you will feel the vehicle jack

start becoming free. You have now effectively compressed the strut to as short as it could statically go.

11. Remove the ABS and brake hose line grommets from the strut brackets (mounted just above the hub).

12. Install two spring compressor clamps with the bolt head at the bottom. You do not need to compress it any

further, so finger tight is fine.

13. Remove the three nuts holding the top of the strut (in the boot).

14. Slowly lower the second jack until the hub starts pulling the strut free at the top. Keep on lowering until the

hub is more or less where it would be with the wheel on. The strut will naturally swing towards the outside,

but can’t come out of the wheel arch yet.

15. Undo and remove the bolt which clamps the hub strut sleeve retaining the lower part of the strut.

The bolt is removed from the LEFT.

Once the bolt is out, clean it up prior to re-inserting from the other side – shown. Insert a suitable piece of

4mm steel sheet – or as thick as fits – into the slot, and tighten the bolt until some tension can be felt. Keep

on doing this – it forces the clamp open – until play between the strut and clamp can be felt.

16. Once the strut is loose, lower the second jack completely – it can actually be removed – and gently push

the hub down (with your knee or second person) while pulling the strut clear. Maneuver the strut top

around in the rear of the wheel arch until it clears the clamp.

Rework/Modification

The spring should have been sufficiently compressed by the clamps to remove the central nut and top plate

without it shooting off – but just check first, pse!

1. Remove the nut and top plate, leaving everything else as is, including the clamps on the spring.

2. Remove the pressed-in threaded studs in the top plate by means of a bench vice as shown below. Note

that you cannot revert back to the original studs using the same plate, as they have been pressed in. So if

ever the spacer is to be removed, keep the modified plate and shorten the studs protruding into the boot –

if required – with an angle grinder. Or get a used plate from a scrap yard for R150.

a. The spanner should be 17mm or larger to allow the stud head to fit between the flats. A rotation of

around half-a-turn of the vice handle should free the stud. It is initially very tight, until it pops out.

b. Grip the unthreaded tip of the stud with a vice grip and screw it out clockwise.

c. Clear the thread in the top plate with an M8 tap.

3. Screw the longer (47mm) high-tensile hex bolts into the top plate and tighten firmly.

4. Spin the flange nuts on and while retaining the bolt heads – easiest to just clamp them in the vice - torque

to 30Nm with the 13mm long socket. This torqueing is important to prevent the bolts from rotating when

the internal nuts are torqued from inside the vehicle after refitting of the strut.

The LH image below shows the various stages of plate conversion: Original/New bolt/Nut installed.

The RH image shows which way round the spacer drops over the locked bolts – still shown with the original

studs.

5. Re-install the top plate on the damper – it will only fit in one orientation due to the bolt heads dropping

into specific cavities in the upper spring locator – and tighten the nut until it seats.

Installation - The Tricky Part

1. Insert the top of the strut into the wheel arch where the breather filter mounting plate was removed.

2. Locate the bottom of the strut into the top of the hub sleeve. At this stage the strut will we skew, but as

you push the hub lower – knee/helper – it will slip in. Note it can only go in one way, due to a key at the

back of the strut locating in the clamp slot.

3. Remove the bolt holding the clamp open, also the temporary plate, and re-insert from the other side.

Wiggle the strut to ensure it seats properly, and torque the clamp bolt.

4. Drop the spacer over the studs after checking that the green suspension isolator is still attached to the

vehicle - see below:

If the isolator is damaged, they can be obtained as LR001174 at around R12/piece. For good measure, a

second isolator could be added between the spacer and strut, after the stud holes have been enlarged.

5. Re-insert the second jack at the support point and slowly raise it, at the same time PUSHING the strut

inwards by hand. It will feel as if it does not want to go, but that is the effect of a top-heavy pendulum and

the suspension rubbers.

6. Once the new studs touch the lower surface of the mounting flange, the holes won’t necessarily line up.

Rotate the top plate by hand in order to do so. This is easier to see from inside the boot – by the helper -

and also the reason why the top nut was not torqued fully prior to installation, as it still allows some plate

rotation at this stage.

7. The final stud insertion stage requires some practice. This is done with sharp pushes – by HAND – inwards

close to the top of the strut, while simultaneously giving the second jack a little pump to catch the stud tips

in the mounting holes. This is where an assistant may be useful.

8. Once all three holes locate, raise the hub until it takes the weight of the car again, and remove the spring

compressor clamps. You may need a spanner to just get them going.

9. Install the 3 nuts via the NVH bracket and torque to 30 – 35 Nm (recommended torque for a high tensile –

10.9 Grade – M8 bolt/nut).

10. Torque the central nut to 80Nm. This value is from the LR Topix data sheets.

11. Lower the jack until the drop link can be inserted again and tighten the nut. Hold the stud against rotation

if it slips, as otherwise a knocking noise may emanate from this component when driving over left/right

undulations.

12. Clip the ABS and brake lines back into the bracket, re-install the breather bracket, liner and mud flap.

13. Replace the wheel.

14. Replace the boot trim panel.

15. Repeat for the other side.

16. The wheel alignment is to be set only after the front spacer installation has also been completed, although

even with the spacers and no adjustment, negative camber is still maintained at the rear.

NOTE: Until the car has been driven, the rear will appear excessively high. This is due to the wheels previously

hanging, extending the suspension.

A trip round the block/couple of speed humps will settle this to the final height.

On my i6 with well-worn stock tyres (77000km) the clearance at the lowest point underneath is 240mm. With new

tyres of the same type – Hankook RA23 Dynapro HP – it improves to 250mm.

Lastly, don’t rush the job. The car drives fine with only one side lifted. The “skewness” won’t noticeable, as the

anti-rollbar tends to level the body. So if it takes two days – or a week - before getting round to the other side,

that’s OK.