Front anti roll bar - cannot find one for sale anywhere!

[sam1977]

Good morning. I have an Audi A6 C4 Avant 2.6 with a damaged front way bar. I have the old one out the car, but I cannot find one for sale anywhere - tried the usual haunts such as eBay - just gives me endless pictures of bushes and also pictures of later sway bars not the one I need with the threaded ends. Any ideas?

[Luey]

I would suggest you find someone on eBay who is breaking the same car and ask if they have the part. 

[Dan3222]

Try 247spares.co.uk, you will get over a hundred car breakers attention that way. I am sure you would get one through this service or the other few that are available 

[sam1977]

Hi I found a great website - www.megaparts.eu - found 2 of them on there. Its a great site since unlike the UK breakers yard ones where you put in an enquiry and they get back to you, this one has everything listed and photographed, It was only 31 euros! Sorted,

[Steve Q]

Glad you got sorted Sam :) 

that website sounds useful for others! 

When you get a chance why don't you upload a pic of your a6 :) 

Cheers 

steve 

[sam1977]

Hi Steve

Well the car is finally fixed. Its probably the worst job I have had to do on any car ever. 99% my fault. Let me tell you the full story:

I actually started out with a clonking noise from the front end - two years ago now. I bought 2 new lower arms but one turned up with no bushings. My local mechanic fitted one but left the other one awaiting parts. The worst of the clonking went away. The supplier of the arms refused to send the bushings or replace the whole part saying I had "lost them". BS. The car then got passed over to my girlfriend as she needed a daily driver. After a year she reported a knocking noise - different this time, more a "clack clack clack" over bumps.. Over time under harsh acceleration the car seemed to change direction slightly. We ignored it for a while and in the end it got so annoying and the unwieldy handling so pronounced that I went on a forum (not this one I would add) and self diagnosed this as being anti-roll bar bushings where the ARB connects to the subframe - typical looking bushings with metal cappings over them, two bolts and nuts each side. Easy job ......

 

Firstly this is not an anti-roll bar in the way anyone would understand one! I am used to working on BMW's where an anti-roll bar is just that: a bar running from one wheel to the other with some kind of drop-links to the strut. In other words if you removed it the car would still drive along but would not be stable in bends. On this car this is a whole lot more than that as I learned at my peril. The bushings for the "ARB" look pretty normal so I set about replacing them. So my easy job meant jacking up the car. Supporting the subframe. Lowering the subframe front on a jack to access the top bolts on the bushing casings. Undo nuts, remove casings, swap bearings and et voila job done right? WRONG .... SO WRONG. Actually its really as easy as that if you know what I now know. All you need to do is one side at a time. Unfortunately I was in high efficiency mode so I removed both sides. Removed old bushings - which looked fine (see later), fitted new bushings, fitted casings/caps jacked up "ARB" to refit nuts to bolts ........ suddenly nothing lined up at all. At this point I should have asked for advice: I didn't.

 

I then got into my head that the easiest way to do this must be to undo the end links to the "ARB" where it joins the lower control arms. Undo those. Push the "ARB" into the correct position for the bushings. Do those up. Tighten end links again and et voila job done right!? For the second time WRONG .. VERY WRONG. I undid the end links - this is basically a nut, large dished washer and then two half bushings with another dished washer on the other side. Undid these both sides and the whole "ARB" splayed out into the circular holes on the lower control arms both sides. Completely wedged in. So now I am no further ahead than before except now my "ARB" end links are no longer central to the lower control arms and are wedged into the outer edges of the circular hole. I broke out a large hammer. No matter how hard I hit the ends they would not pop out. At this point I realised this is not an ARB and this is, despite initial indications, not a normal suspension set up. The whole arrangement is under immense tension. Realising that I got a small ratchet strap and pulled on one side of the bar using the edge of the subframe to pull it. Out it came. Once free the other side came out too. So now I have my "ARB" out. Of course with no tension on it, it would not even line up with the holes on the lower control arms at all. At this point I came to the conclusion to fit everything back together meant using multiple ratchet straps and several jacks. Unfortunately I discovered (thankfully before I tried to refit it) that hammering on the threaded end of the ARB had mushroomed it and damaged the threads beyond repair. Hence my original post asking where I could buy a new one. Probably because most owners never hammer on the end of theirs and damage the threads there isn't a big market for them!!! Anyway eventually as you know sourced the part. 4 weeks to arrive. Meanwhile the only silver lining to the story is that the noise turned out to be lower control arms to ARB end link bushings, worn to the metal. So had I been successful in the first place the problem would have remained as I was changing the wrong part.

 

Then came the real "scrap it moment". I needed to move the car out of my garage as it was blocking my other cars in. So I reversed it out and suddenly no drive and a grinding noise. My god I thought, I need to just set this thing on fire. By this stage the car is half in the driveway and half in the street with no drive. I had to jack it up on the front end of the subframe and push it back in with a 4x4. The "ARB" not being an "ARB" actually holds the struts in place so without it I had pulled the drive shaft out from the tri-pot. Bearings had fallen off the trunions and being an open diff that meant no drive. So I had to remove the drive shaft - big bolt on hub end, 6 splined bolts on gearbox end. Dismantled inner end, refitted bearings to trunions, regrease, boot back on, drive shaft refitted. Phew getting somewhere closer to where I started now. Top tip here, contrary to what some people say you can get the drive shaft out (long one) without removing exhaust. Undo steering arm, pull hub right round lying on your back using your feet and have a kind friend push it out of the splined hub bearing up into the bowels of the engine bay and out it comes. Refitting the reverse of removal. Oh and there is a protective cover as well on the inner end. Expect some skinned knuckles.

 

So next is refit "ARB". Tried compress it with ratchet straps - forget it. Can nearly get it in but the straps impeded refitting. Get one end in, new bushings obviously, central and do it up. Then use ratchet strap to pull other end over and into lower control arm hole, ratcheting one notch at a time to get it central and then refit nut and tighten. So at this point I am right back where I started. Using three straps and a notch at a time with subframe lowered on a jack and another jack to push up "ARB" I manoeuvred it into position got one side done up, other side was then also lined up

 

SO in summary changing the "ARB" bushings is easy. Just do one at a time. Had I done that I would have avoided everything that followed. Of course if I had done that I would not have solved the problem which was worn end link bushings - resulting from me not changing that arm 2 years ago. On the plus side I know the car a lot better, I didn't scrap it (many of my friends told me to) and ......... 4 weeks after starting the job ....... its fixed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy days.

 

I attach a picture as requested. As you can see its not a special looking car but I have had it years and love it so I had to fix it!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Q]

Wow, you are unlucky! That's the kind of luck I'd have! 

But as you say on the plus side I'm glad you got sorted and the silver lining is that without going through this chaos you would not have realised the real cause of the knocking noise.

It's also allowed to check the condition of other components such as the driveshaft which can only be a good thing :)

Your a6 looks in great condition for its age and you've done the right thing not scrapping it.

My a6 isn't special either (just a se 2.5tdi) but just like you it means the world to me. In my case my dad bought it new in 2002 and it's covered 323,500 miles on the original engine and gearbox and has never been used as a taxi. It has been around the whole of the uk and also to France and Belgium. 

Your a6 will soon be a classic and I'm sure they're a rare site in Gibraltar! If I were you I wouldn't change it :) 

thanks for sharing your story it was a very interesting read! Very useful for other members I assure you! 

I'm going to be putting a new topic together of Audis from around the world. Would you mind if I used your pic of your a6 or feel free to post the pic in the topic? 

Cheers

steve 

 

[sam1977]

Hi Steve

 

Sure you can use the photo - I can send more for your feature if you wish. The car is a 1996 Audi A6 2.6 Avant automatic. It was imported new into Gibraltar and I am the second owner. I bought it 5 years ago with 190,000kms on it. Its now done 250,000kms. Engine runs fine. Since I have owned it I have replaced front shocks, front and rear discs and pads, expansion tank and thats it. Condition is not as good as the photo indicates: I was hit by another car on the passenger side which scraped the doors and my mrs then scraped the same area on a column in a car park.

 

It has leather front seats which were in reasonable condition when I bought the car but have since cracked badly and the drivers seat is basically duct tape!! I bought a very cheap non-runner Audi 2.4 Avant UK "V" plates locally thinking I could swap the interior. Thats the face lifted model. Do you know if the seats would fit mine?

 

Also A/C clutch jammed meaning no a/c at all - have disconnected the wiring for this since any attempt to run it (usually by accident) caused the drive belt to scrape on the seized compressor pulley.

 

If I can fix the seats and a/c I would consider having it resprayed actually.

 

Wow you have done well to get 325,000 miles from yours!!!!

 

All the best

Sam.

 

 

[Steve Q]

Thanks Sam, 

il add it to the topic :) 

hmm, I don't think they would bolt straight in. However if you put the runners off your current seats and fitted them to the new seats, then they'd fit :)

the only issue you have is whether the new or old seat electrics are compatible. That's even if it's applicable to your car or the new seats. 

I feel your pain with regard to the Ac not working! It's worse for you as it gets very hot in Gibraltar! 

My ac doesn't work and iv been quoted over £1000 to get it fixed. In my case the pump/condenser is bust. But it's not so bad as it's colder here most of the time but in Gibraltar you need Ac! 

If you then get the bodywork sorted you'll have a very smart looking a6 and one of the best out there. As I say, she's certainly going to be a classic in the not too distant future! 

Youve got great mileage out of yours! And thank you! 

I find as long as you keep on top of the maintance they'll just run and run and run! ;) 

the highest mileage a6 like yours I ever saw was on 494,000 miles. It was in daily service and did a commute from Scotland to London at least twice a week! 

All the best

steve :)