Fitting the Steering Rack

If you are clever, you make some kind of witness marks on the rack and clamps when the rack is removed, so that you can (re)align your rack laterally across the engine bay when you put it back..... 

Steering rack clamp on the steering relay

I didn't make marks. It wasn't that I wasn't being clever about it (I don't think?), it was just that everything was going to be stripped and cleaned and I'd have lost any witness marks I made anyway. Besides, the manual contains instructions for fitting the rack laterally. The process and distance is given steps 6 and 7 of Operation D.444-1 in section 1 of volume 2 of manual 814.

Setting the steering rack lateral position

With the caps of the brackets loosely in place over the rack, the rack is then slid laterally so that there is a distance 'b' between the centre of the pinion assembly and the centre line of the steering relay - 122.5mm +/- 2.5mm.

I used a set square to help me set distance 'b'.

Setting distance 'b'

What is distance 'a'? Well distance 'a' relates to having the steering rack turned to a particular position so that when the steering wheel and column are connected, the single spoke of the steering wheel is in the correct position. I'm not fitting my steering wheel yet so didn't bother with distance 'a'.

Once the rack has been positioned laterally, the clamps holding it to the car can be tightened. I will need to loosen the clamps when it comes to fitting and aligning to the steering column. But that is about the rotational angle of the rack, so I should be able to do that without losing the lateral position.

The steering levers were located on the splines of the steering relays. There aren't splines all the way round the relay shaft so they only fit on in one position. However the two levers (left and right) are 'handed' and can become muddled. See the photo of a fitted lever a little lower down this post. On a related point, Citroen even go as far as specifying that the bolts through the steering levers on the steering relays should be fitted with the nuts facing in towards the engine. That can be a little inconvenient....

But at least they won't fall out. Maybe that's the idea?

I carefully de-greased the pins of the track rod ball joints and tightened new lock nuts. Even when de-greased, the ball pins turned with the nuts and proved hard to torque. I developed a 'snatch' technique to quickly get some purchase. Once the nut began to tighten the ball stopped rotating and I was able to torque the nut up the necessary amount (again - the values are all in the manual....).

Steering lever connected to the track rod end.
(Note that the 'lump' on the side of the lever faces inwards towards the engine) 

And that was just about it!

Steering rack refitted.....

I till need to make the hydraulic connections to the pipe but there are only a couple of those. And of course the radiator needed to back on again, before I can continue testing, but that will be a relatively quick job.

I'm still not happy with that 'brunswick green' colour though. It REALLY jumps out at me every time I look at the rack. Can you see what I mean? I remembered that at some past point I'd bought a tin of brunswick green and still had it - unopened. I'd bought it back when I was buying rattle cans a couple of years ago - so it should be the same colour.

At some future point I may pull that rack and repaint it.

Camshaft Pulley Nut

In common with the nuts on some other critical components, the camshaft pulley nut is designed so that - once correctly tightened, it's edge can be 'staked' into a little receiving groove on the shaft. That 'staking' stops the nut working loose.

Any work on the car that involves removing the pulley, means either grinding that dink off, or trying to 'un-stake' it with a screwdriver or similar. Then, of course, when you want to refit the nut, the 'dink bit is either missing or damaged and weakened.....

My pulley shaft and 'staked' nut

The more you remove the pulley, the more unusable the nut becomes.You could pack out the nut with extra washers so that - when the nut is tight - the bit to be 'staked' is different but then the nut is not fully threaded onto the shaft , which potentially represents a weakness. 

I decided to fit a new nut. The usual DS parts suppliers sell a modern 'nyloc' nut for this job, but they aren't cheap.The shaft thread size is M16 x 1.5 pitch - so that is the size of the nut needed. I went around the corner to my local fixture specialist and bought a nut for just 25p. In fact I was so embarrassed at only spending 25p, that I went crazy and bought two for 50p!

Camshaft pulley 'nyloc' nuts

That felt better. And it was a saving of £8.50 over the £9 if I'd bought them elsewhere. 

Except it wasn't a saving. it was a loss of 50p!! When I came to fix one of the nuts, I discovered that it tightened against the pulley before the nylon part of the nut engaged with the threads of the shaft - meaning the 'nyloc' nut wasn't going to 'loc'....For the nut to lock, the pulley would need to have been further along the camshaft. Or the shaft would need to be further forward. That simply wasn't possible and - even if I could remove any shims to get the pulley further back - it would have meant it was out of alignment with other pulleys on the car.

Shim behind the pulley - used to align pulleys and belts

What I noticed was that the very tip of my camshaft - where the little groove to receive the 'staking' was - was not threaded. You can see in the photo above. The end of the camshaft was thinner and smooth. There was nothing there for the nylon in the nut to bite in to. Perhaps the ends of the camshafts were this way so that any 'staking' did not damage threads on the shaft when the nuts were removed? 

Anyway, it meant that my 50p had been squandered. And I still had the problem of sourcing a proper nut with a collar that could be staked. I asked questions in a Facebook group and got several helpful replies. The advice was to buy a hub nut for a trailer stub axle. Some quick Googling confirmed that this looked to be the way to go. 

Hub nut for a trailer stub axle

They weren't cheap - especially when you factored-in postage - but I splashed out and bought three so that I had spares! They've arrived now and look to be just what I need. 

Trailer hub nuts

The only difference is to the collar - the bit that get's staked. The proper DS nuts are machined around this part - possibly to make the metal a little thinner and more maleable? By comparison the hub nuts retain their rough cast shape and look to be thicker-walled. 

Are the walls thicker?

But they are designed to be staked, so I'm not worried about that. I can't justify being a lathe to machine these nuts down a little - but I might just try and catch my mate Peter on a good day and see if he'll do it for me.

I was still left wondering why a DS parts supplier sold a 'safety nut' (a 'nyloc' nut) that wasn't fit for purpose? The parts book relevant to my car shows a collared nut for staking and a groove in the camshaft end.

I have another spare DS camshaft. I dug it out and was surprised to find that the threaded end is different. the thread goes all the way to the end and there is no groove for staking a nut.

Other camshaft - threaded to the end

You can see how that end is different to my (fitted) camshaft.

Camshaft on my car

I've got no idea why my spare camshaft is different, but it looks as though a 'nyloc' nut would work just fine with that other type of end. There was a change to the nut in June 1971, as documented in parts manual 604.....

A change to the nut from June 1971?

......but not an equivalent change in the camshaft part number. And the change to the nut can't simply have been a 1mm reduction in length can it? Citroen catalogue 645 that shows the sizes of fixings lists the post June 1971 part as just a standard nut? Not collared or even a 'nyloc' nut.

The catalogue does have a section listing 'nyloc' nuts but part 'ZD 9525 000 W' is not listed  there.

Citroen 'nylstop' nuts 

So in conclusion, perhaps a word to the wise: if you are looking to replace your camshaft pulley nut, look for the groove on the camshaft end for staking and whether the threads on the shaft go all the way to the end. If there is no groove, a 'nyloc' nut will probably be fine - but check the thread 'bites' onto the nylon. If there IS a groove then seek out a trailer hub nut and stake it to the shaft.

Connecting The Throttle Linkage

Before I can get on with some serious testing,  I needed to connect the throttle linkage - from the pedal to the carburettor. It's one of those jobs I was looking forward to as it's another 'thing' that physically joins the engine to the car and so makes it 'whole' again.

It's useful to understand the mechanics and parts of the linkage and the parts books are a good reference here.

Throttle linkage parts

There are some scant instructions for setting up the throttle mechanism at Operation D.142-0 in volume 1 of Manual 814. 

Though they are pretty brief and don't go into a lot of detail -  particularly in terms of rod alignment. Elsewhere in the manual the instruction is simply to 'align if necessary'. Here is how to go about it.

The Relay Arm - the Horizontal Control Rod

The relay arm transmits (relays) pedal movements and position to the carburettor. It's the horizontal rod at the back of the engine (part 9 in the diagram above). You haven't really got many choices when it comes to fitting the arm to the carburettor. At the carburettor end, the arm connects to the butterfly shaft.

The relay arm itself has a star-shaped end which provides some flexibility against engine movement and mis-alignment. The flexible joint also takes up engine movements during acceleration and deceleration.

Relay arm fixing at the carburettor end

That's key because you want the rotation of that control rod to be as 'knot-free' as possible. The relay arm needs to be as in-line with that carburettor shaft as possible - both in the horizontal and vertical plane. Think of it as needing to be an extension of that shaft. Adjustment is done from the back, bulkhead end, not the carburettor end.

The relay arm end passes into a brass bearing suspended in rubber, on a flat metal counter plate.

The relay arm end is suspended in a brass bearing

The counter plate has vertical slots and you can use these to set the horizontal orientation of the relay arm.

Vertical slots in the counter plate

Check the condition of the rubber membrane in that counter plate. As the rubber perishes, the operation of the pedal on the relay arm pulls the bearing down and out of any previous alignment made. Tin fact the bearing - and so the relay arm - can fall out of the rubber completely. Replacement plates are widely available but be aware that there are two diameters of relay arm rods and so there are plates with different sized bearings.

New and worn counter plates

If you are buying a replacement plate, measure the diameter of the control rod that needs to fit through it. It's mostly likely to be 8mm if the car is 1969 or later, and likely to be 6mm if the car is from before that. You could use a drill bit to work out the hole size.

In trying to make the relay arm inline with the carburettor shaft, if you find that the bolts through your counter plate are at the very tops of the slot (i.e. the plate is as low as it will go) - but that the relay arm is still not in line with the carburettor shaft - this may indicate that your engine is sloping down towards the back. This could be because the rear engine mounts are set too low or - more likely - have worn and have sunk..... Time for new engine mounts.

Similarly, when viewed from the top, the relay arm needs to be attached to the carburettor shaft as square-on as possible. 

The bracket on the bulkhead lip that the plate fixes to, has a horizontal slot.

So the counter plate can be moved across it to align the rod as necessary.

Horizontal slot in the black bracket

If you find you have used all the slot width and still find that the relay arm still isn't perpendicular to the mount on the carburettor, this may be because the engine is sitting at an angle across the engine bay. Ideally, the back end of the engine should be aligned so that number 4 spark plug  is as directly below the hole in the scuttle as is possible.

Ideally the spark plug should be in line with the hole in the scuttle 

If it's not, it's not too problematic. By loosening the rear engine mounts from their plates on the chassis, the engine can be carefully 'nudged'  across a little. Or you may just choose to live with it....

As an aside, I've see the bracket fixed upside down - on the underside of the bulkhead lip. The counter plate is then also fitted upside down to try to compensate....

Bracket and counter plate fitted upside down?

Unfortunately in this wrong configuration, the highest setting you can achieve for the plate, is only about equivalent to the lowest position you can get if assembled correctly.

With the horizontal relay arm position set, you can move on to the vertical lever and rod at the back of the engine

Spring Adjustment

The shaft of the throttle pedal.......

Throttle pedal assembly

......passes through the bulkhead and it's end protrudes at the rear side of the engine - near where the timing chain cover is. 

Throttle pedal shaft in the engine bay

The tip of the shaft has a flatted section. The lever of the the vertical control rod is fitted to this and secured with a pinch bolt. 

Lever fixed to the pedal shaft

Operating the pedal twists the pedal shaft, which cranks the lever, which pulls the vertical rod down.  The relay arm at the top is then operated indirectly through the action of a pair of springs. The springs are slung between the nylon bushes on the horizontal relay arm..... 

Springs on nylon bushes

........and a small triangular hooking plate (part 8 in the diagram above) on the vertical control rod.......

Hooking plate on the control rod

With your foot on the pedal, the springs act to pull on the relay arm and so operate the carburettor. When you lift your foot from the pedal, the springs also pull the control rod and pedal back up. Spring tension needs to be such that, the springs can fully lift the pedal and fully close the butterfly of the carburettor. If the spring tension is insufficient, the throttle will feel 'sloppy' and will affect engine responsiveness. If the springs are too tight, you will be wrestling with the pedal as you drive.  Adjustment is as follows.

Firstly adjust the spring length. They should be 135mm end-to-end - that is from the point they hook over the nylon bushes to the point they hook into the small hooking plate lower down.  Unfortunately adjustment is on the triangle at the bottom end but not difficult to do. The small triangular hooking plate can be wiggled and reset on different barbs on the vertical control rod to give you the necessary spring length. the spring tension holds the hooking plate in place.

Once happy with spring length adjustment, you can set the length of the vertical control rod. 

Vertical Control Rod Adjustment

The top of the rod itself has a long thread. On my car, the mechanism has a long, shouldered adjustable rod (part 6 in the diagram above). this is threaded internally.

A long shouldered adjuster rod

This forms an extension to the control rod and it's the adjuster rod that passes through the eye in the relay arm. A lock nut underneath the adjustable rod set its position on the control rod.

The extension arm passes through the relay eye

When the pedal is operated, the vertical control rod and it's adjustable rod end are free to be  pulled down  through the eye on the horizontal control rod - but no so far that they disengage.

However later Ds have an arrangement where the long adjuster rod is not fitted and is replaced by a simple adjuster nut on the control rod thread.

Alternative adjuster on late Ds

With no extending adjuster, presumably the control rods are longer so that they don't disengage from the eye? Mind you, with this arrangement there are also lock nuts on the top end of the rod - above the eye. On my car the rod is free to move within the eye, but it seems that with this arrangement those lock nuts if set so close to the eye) push the rod down - rather than the springs pull it?

Locking nuts on top of the rod

Regardless, other than the fact that in this scenario it's the threaded rod that passes through the eye on the relay arm, the principles of adjustment are the same as it's the underside of the eye that is important. 

 

Have a glamorous assistant fully depress the throttle pedal - or use two or three bricks. Fully open the carburettor butterfly. You can do this by rotating the horizontal relay arm attached to the carburettor with your finger so that its arm goes down.

Underneath that arm - more specifically under the eyelet piece that the vertical rod passes through - measure the gap between the shoulder of the adjustable rod and the underside of the eyelet piece.

With the pedal depressed and the butterfly open,
there should be a gap here

The gap needs to be between 1mm and 4mm. If it's not, slacken the lock nut and alter the   adjustable sleeve on the thread of the rod by turning it. I presume it's the same for later Ds with an adjuster nut under there. 

When happy with the gap under the eyelet, tighten the locking nuts of the adjuster rod and take whatever heavy weight you used off the throttle pedal.

That should be it!

Replacing the Rear Suspension Dust Covers

I've had enough of working under the bonnet so I've shifted to the other end of the car.  A long outstanding job has been to replace the perished rubber dust covers on the rear suspension. I need to do this before I can fill up - and power up - the hydraulics of the car. There might be a clever way to shut off just the circuit for the rear suspension but why bother? I need to crack on with replacement.

New dust cover fitted

The car needs to be up on proper axle stands. The hydraulics weren't connected up on my car but you would normally release the pressure in the system and put the car in its lowest height setting. 

Surprisingly the official Citroen workshop manuals don't seem to cover the replacement of a rear dust cover. You can find instructions for removing a complete cylinder/ dust cover unit at Section IV of Operation D.433-1 in volume 2 of manual 583. But the only copies of that available online are in French or German. Manual 518 includes a drawing of a suspension unit and cover fitted.

Rear suspension cylinder, pushrod and dust cover

You don't need to remove the whole suspension unit to change the dust cover. If you can clean away the muck and the grease - so that it doesn't contaminate the cylinder and piston - you can get away with undoing a few clips and removing just the pushrod and dust cover.

In the absence of 'by-the-book' instructions, Citroen Classics have produced a short narrative on tackling the job and you can find that HERE. you can also find a handy video from the Dutch 'DS-TT' team HERE. be warned though - it's very grainy/ low resolution. 

This is how I went about it. This is a relatively straightforward (and satisfying) job, as long as you can see what you are doing. There will also be spills of LHM to add to the general fun. 

With the wheel removed, you can begin to clean all the muck off. Pay particular attention to the front end of the rod - where it locates in the suspension arm - and the back end where the big end of the dust cover is attached.

My car just had a large jubilee clip on the big end of the cover.

I removed the clip and the protective rubber collar underneath it and peeled the dust cover away from the cylinder. I pulled out the thin white/ yellow return hose from the small outlet on the side of the cover. At this point it's a good thing to note the orientation of the outlet when the dust cover is fixed to the car. You'll need to replicate that for when the new cover is fitted to the push rod.

At the forward end of the push rod is a smaller dust cover and you will find a large locking pin. It's good to know your enemy. in situ, that pin that looks like this....

The pin secures the pushrod assembly in place on the suspension arm. The LONG leg of the pin secures the cup to the suspension arm. The other, shorter leg of the pin passes through small dust cover and a hole through the push rod. They seem to be made of treated steel and - if stuck - would rather snap then bend. 

If they have been bent too forcefully, then straightening the pin still leaves a kink in the pin which can make them difficult to pull out. In other cases, the pins are seized-in and won't move whether straight or not. If the pin won't come out easily, care should be taken not to force it. These pins shear very easily. If a broken piece of pin is stuck it will prove very difficult to remove the pushrod.

I (carefully) straightened the long end of the pin that was sticking out the back side. In my case I got lucky: the pin snapped when I tried to straighten it - but only the bent end piece. I was still able to pull both parts out without much difficulty.

Broken locking pin and new replacement pin

With the pin out of the way, I found that my cup was stuck firmly in the suspension arm. I was able to remove the Ligarex strap from the small dust cover. That exposed the rod end, ball bearing and cup. Lifting the suspension arm and then lowering it pushed the piston inside the cylinder and gave me more working room. With some lifting and jiggling I was able to disengage the front (cup) end of the pushrod, leaving the cup and greasy ball bearing still attached to the suspension arm. The back end of the rod was then pulled out of the piston/ suspension cylinder at the back end.

Cylinder and piston exposed

The suspension piston may slide out of the cylinder when you're not looking, picking up dirt from the floor as it does so - so you may want to temporarily tape it in place.

Piston slipping out of cylinder

At this point, the only thing securing the suspension cylinder to the car (other than the metal hydraulic pipe), is a small triangular securing plate that sits against a flat ledge on the cylinder. (This also stops the cylinder rotating when you remove a sphere). 

Triangle securing plate and bolt for securing cylinder

If these securing plates are missing or badly rusted, buy and fit replacements.

It took a bit of jiggling to eventually release the ball bearing and cup at the front end as - over the years - road dirt and grit had penetrated any gap and it become fixed.

Cup receiver on the suspension arm

I repeated the exercise on the other side of the car. I rebuilt the two units side-by-side. On the bench I removed the old boots. Turning the boot inside out revealed the Ligarex strap on the small end of the boot and this was removed. The remains of the boot were removed from the rods which were cleaned and inspected.

Very often, D owners report hearing a 'crack' sound from the rear of their car when the suspension is raised/ lowered. This is because the enormous pressures on the rear push rods and ball bearings cause a groove to wear in the hardened tips of the pushrods. When new, pushrod ends look like this.

New old stock (NOS) push rods

Whereas the pushrods I removed looked like this...

My pushrods - as removed

I used a Dremmel tool to remove the worst of the burring and to smooth out the grooves.

Before.....

.....and after.

As well as pushrod wear, the ball bearings also wear and so were replaced.

A worn ball bearing and it's replacement

And - for good measure - I found wear inside the cups.

Worn cup

Luckily I had planned ahead and had bought replacements for just about all the parts likely to wear or break. Which brings us to the dust covers....

Buying Dust Covers

There are several - or even many - versions of the dust covers on sale. Prices and quality vary.  The quality of many reproduction rubber parts is woeful. Parts fell stiff and almost as though they are made of plastic rather than rubber. For some years now, this has particularly been the case with rear dust covers - with some users reporting they are lasting less that a year.

(Photo credit: George Antoniou)

Citroen stopped selling genuine ones many years ago - with the exception of their being a batch of Citroen-branded (bagged ones) circulating a couple of years ago. I think those were genuine but have no idea if their quality matched up to the old days. Vintage originals still turn up, but are prized and highly expensive.

(Photo credit: Mark Rueneuf)

Recent Citroen-branded dust covers

Fed up with the quality of rear dust covers, some parts sellers have started having their own dust covers made up.

Example of a dust cover mould

Off all the reproductions, those made by Falk Lehmann in Germany are held in high regard.

Dust covers made and marketed by Falk Lehmann

These are branded FLE to distinguish them from inferior products on the market.

The last time I was in contact with Falk - shortly after Brexit - he told me that he'd stopped sending parts to the UK as it was too much hassle for a small operator. Shame. And just wait for the fake FLEs to appear! 

These days most big sellers even offer 'standard' versions at a budget price, and better quality versions at a premium price. (In some cases these are Falk's parts).

(Photo credit: Citroen Classics)

(Photo credit: Jochen Hoch)

(Photo credit: Citrotech)

Where two levels are offered, the buyer should still be able to expect reasonable wear from them. Here is what Citroen Classics in the UK say about their lower priced covers:

"Reproduction part, standard quality but we've noticed they perish faster on cars that are not used much and last longer on cars in daily use!"

And this is what they say about their better quality covers:

"Rear suspension dust cover, reproduced part, but absolute best quality available.

Material used is better than the original Citroen part."

As ever it's a case of 'buyer beware' and 'pay your money and take your choice' - but don't say you haven't been fairly warned. The price difference between standard and premium is not prohibitive and I find it strange that any choice is offered at all - especially given the prices that people are willing to pay for many other parts for a DS. 

I have a pair of cheapo dust covers I bought at Citromobile in Holland in 2017. As the time neared, I was never really happy with the idea of using these - given all the bad press about dust covers and so - more recently, I bought a pair of 'best quality' neoprene covers from Jochen Hoch.

You only realise these difference if/ when you are able to compare alternative products. Comparing the two, the cheaper ones feel more like plastic and they seem to be made of thicker material. They definitely feel less pliable. And given that flex and pliability is a key function of these dust covers, the cheap ones did not fill me with confidence. My decision is made. I'll be fitting the neoprene covers and keeping the others as - I don't know what - maybe garage ornaments?

Fitting the Dust Covers

The dust covers are initially fitted INSIDE OUT. It's a small thing, but it tends to cause a lot of confusion and disorientation. You need to turn the cover completely inside out and, after fixing the small end, will then turn the cover the right way out again.

How the dust cover fits (diagram credit: Greenblood)

Following my own advice, I turned the covers inside out and slipped them over the pushrod until the narrow end was over the ribbed section near the middle of the pushrod. Note in this photo which end of the push rod the open end on the inverted cover is towards. It's towards the end of the rod that has the hole through it - at the top of the photo. 

Inverted covers over the push rods

I wrapped several winds of fabric loom tape around the end of the cover. I temporarily put the locking pin through the push rod as a visual 'tell' so that I could orientate the outlet of the boot to the correct angle relative to the push rod. (Note that the wrong end of the pin is through the push rods in this photo).

Lining up the outlets and the pin holes
(wrong end of the pins through the holes!)

I did a trial fit against the car. Once I was happy with the dust cover orientation I used Ligarex strapping and a Ligarex buckle to secure the end of the boot.

You really cannot get away with using a lumpy jubilee clip here  as - once the dust cover is turned the right way out, it will rub on the clip and cause a puncture. You might get away with tightly applying one of those nylon locking belts - but they still have a lumpy bit. You want to avoid any rough or proud edge that could puncture the cover. For this reason, I was careful to fold the cut end of my Ligarex strapping.....

Cut end of the Ligarex strapping

.....under its buckle.

Cut end folded under the buckle

With one end of the cover secured, I turned the cover the right way out and slipped over the rubber protective band for the Ligarex strap. 

Protective bands for the Ligarex strapping.

If you haven't got those bands, or they are perished or split, you can buy replacements from the usual suppliers. You could probably get away with several winds of protective fabric tape - though that will be awkward to wind when the cover is fitted back on on the suspension cylinder.

I loaded the cup with grease and added a new ball bearing. Then I topped it up with grease to reduce friction between the ball and the push rod.

Greased cup with new ball bearing

I fitted the open end of the small dust cover over the cup and slipped over the protective rubber band. NOTE that this small dust cover can be surprisingly hard to fit! Especially if it is/ you are covered in grease. 

Before I added some ligarex strapping to secure the cover the the cup, I orientated the parts so that the hole through the dust cover lined up with the hole through the push rod, and I twisted the cup to make sure it's hole was also in line. You can temporarily fit both ends of one of the split pins through the assembly to check this alignment.

With the small dust cover strapped to the cup, the assembly was just about ready for fitting. I thoroughly cleaned up the area where the cup needs to fit on the suspension arm (it's a fairly close fit) and applied a little grease - if only to make fitting and removal easier going forward.

I also chose to replace the old rubber conical bump stops with new polyurethane one. 

Out with the old......

.....in with the new.

I made sure that the piston and cylinder end were clean and offered up the open end of pushrod/ dust cover assembly to the suspension cylinder. With the dust cover holding itself in place, i then located the cup end in its receiver on the suspension arm.

Getting ready to locate the cup end (note alignment of pin holes)

A bit of wiggling was necessary to line up the cup hole with the suspension arm and the new locking pin (pre-greased) was pushed through. If rebuilt and fitted correctly then, with the pin located, the small return outlet should be on the upper face of the duct cover. happy that everything lined up. I bent the long end of the locking pin over by a small amount.

Locking pin fitted

It took a dab of lubricating LHM and a sturdy push to locate the yellow/ white stiff return hose into the small outlet. There should be no bend or strain on the hose or outlet.

With the cup end located, I fitted a securing band to the big end of the dust cover. As the clip/ belt at this end is external to the dust cover, you can get away with a jubilee clip. 

A jubilee clip works fine (credit: George Antoniou)

That's exactly what I've done for the time being, while I assess whether the covers I've used are likely to be long-lasting.

With the leaky dust covers replaced, I can move on with refitting - and refilling - the hydraulic system.