creak/clonk :( please go away"arb isue any 1?? looseing hope"

[frank s3]

hi guys im a broken man after many hours of faffing around after work and still this creak haunts me ive done a new front coilie(witch took 3 weeks to arrive from Germany)new polly arb bushes,new drop links,new top mounts, plus 11 hour days and im struggling to drag my self under the thing.when i done my arb bushes i did notice a mark under the bush and was in a kinda hurry to get home so didnt investigate fully and may be a hair line crack?as id doubt it was paint flaking from under the bush. has any one else had there front arb fail?? All other bushes seem to be in top nick!
any help would be much appreciated frank!

 

[steve bain]

maybe a silly question, but how low are you on collies and what arb do you have? standard one?

 

[frank s3]

yes standard arb and not 2 low i would up load pics but cant seem to do it lol i have ap coilovers and there's about 5 threads showing after the adjusting cup! i raised it when i fitted the coilie same creaky noise !

i have been trying to do as much research as poss and have read that if too low it hits the driveshaft which hasn't been happening as when i bought the car it had a loud knock not the same as the creak prob less annoying and the seller said this was the noise of the arb hitting the dirveshaft turned out it was the drop link loose in shock which was an easy fix . i forgot to mention that the noise sorta ******** off for sort or 2-3miles,i must admit after the arb bushes this noise has decreased a fair bit buh seems to be creaking back in<----lol

 

[steve bain]

ah sorry you have an s3 so not a problem for you. ignore me.

 

[frank s3]

no worries bud

 

[frank s3]

hallelujah,ive found the issue,it turns out i did see something under the bush and on the anti roll bat it has a top hat collar that the bush sits on and is a separate piece from the arb and had a crack running through the center of it im not sure how common this is but if any one is changing theirs i would advise they knock it back and clean under this collar/top hat,as this has been a thorn in my side! now to order a new one and drop the subframe dose any one know how hard it is to remove the lower rear front bush?may as well do the two wishbone bushes whilst apart!!

 

[Audiman99]

any pics m8, glad you sorted it, i have similar problem will be investigating 2moro and fitting new droplinks, arb bushes and front strut mounts.

 

[frank s3]

sorry jonesy i didnt take any pics i can when i get it all replaced but guessing u would have got round to having yours apart,i can give you some advise, disconnecte both drop links and move the abr up and down its wot made me investigate as i could hear the creak.its fairly awkward to move the sleeves under the bush, i did 1 at a time leaving it sorta half mounted you will need a longish thin bar and hammer to move back and clean under where was dry greased up and replaced the sleeve back to where it was. i do need a new arb but this has cured the creak for the time being.kinda as of when i get time hope this helps dude!

 

[Audiman99]

thanks man, fitted droplinks and arbs and still have creak so ill investigate further at weekend.