Snapping coil springs, general ramble

[insanitybeard]

We went to take the youngun's out in the Partner's 2005 Ford Fusion weekend before last, the missus gets in the car and TWANG- an almighty noise as the offside front spring gives up the ghost. Brilliant, thinks I, the only consolation was that it hadn't broken the previous day when we were 50+ miles from home- that would have been a recovery truck job! So I get the strut out for inspection, the spring has failed at the bottom as they often do where the coil flexes against the spring cup on the strut- the crud over time wears/ breaks down the protective coating of the spring allowing rust to set in so it's inevitable eventually really. With these design of springs, the coils at the two ends of the spring are a smaller diameter than the main spring body so if an end coil fails, the spring is no longer contained by the cups so it just fully decompresses in a split second. Trouble was, it caught the rigid steel brake pipe that runs along the bulkhead behind the strut (feeding the flexible rubber hose into the brake caliper), crushing and distorting the pipe- I was amazed at just how much damage it caused, as the pipes are steel and pretty tough! Too risky to let that go- new brake pipe required. Trouble is, Ford don't sell ready formed brake lines as spares, they only sell coils of steel brake pipe and the unions. That steel brake pipe is a b*$Ã,£@rd to flare, even with hydraulic flaring tools such as the Sykes Pickavant one I have had experience of using, and you just can't justify spending Ã,£100+ for a pipe flaring tool you'll hardly ever use! Good ol'  to the rescue, and a big shout out to willigg2 for the bespoke brake pipe, as long as you can measure the length of your original pipe (with string) and identify the fitting size/ style, he can make/ flare a brake pipe as required, which you just need to form to shape when it lands- the one I needed was 38cm long (it could have been a lot worse as initially until I took the wheelarch liner out and realised there was a union where the pipe dissapears through the bulkhead, I thought I was going to have to replace the whole section of pipe back to the ABS modulator on the opposite side of the engine bay which would have been a total nightmare to try to access) and cost me Ã,£10 including delivery, made up of corrosion free cupronickel pipe- an absolute bargain!

Below are a couple pictures of the brake pipe damage and the replacement after I'd (mostly) formed it, plus some of the dismantled and reassembled/ refitted strut, the strut itself was a P.I.T.A to dismantle and reassemble as the top damper rod nut is so far recessed into the top mount so it's really difficult to hold the damper rod whilst releasing/removing the locknut (which in this case was really rusty). The shock absorber bump stop and gaiter were busted as well so I renewed them along with the top bearing and the various nuts & bolts, I replaced the spring with a Sachs one from Euro car parts, though I wish there had been some kind of marking on the spring and a note in the box to make it clear which way up it had to be fitted- in the absence of anything else to guide me I assumed the numbers printed on the spring coil should be 'right way up' when assembled so fitted it thus and then couldn't understand why I just couldn't assemble it properly  (the coils at the top and bottom are angled as they don't run completely parallel to the damper rod), the trouble was as the original spring was busted I couldn't put them both side by side to make it more obvious which way up it needed to go!

Anyway, it's done- glad I wasn't working on the vehicle next to the spring when it decided to go! 

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[Chrispb]

I did a 54 reg fiesta last year apparently car was ok when parked next morning both front springs broken, no brake pipe damage but hell of a job to get trolley jack under.

[Mirez]

What a PITA   I guess at least it wasn't in motion at the time but this seems to be a little more common nowa-days. I had a rear one go on my last Golf... state of the roads and all that... bahh!

[insanitybeard]

Did you find the recessed damper rod top nut a PITA to get off Chris? Crap design IMO, it wouldn't have been so bad to do if you had a shallow 18mm socket with a hex on the outside you could hold/turn with a spanner whilst keeping the damper rod locked with a long 6mm internal hex bit (allen key).

I only replaced the spring on the broken side, I know you're supposed to replace the springs on both sides of an axle if one fails (to maintain an even ride height I presume) but I'd had enough after doing just the one side, after the aggro with that sodding brake pipe!