Hi Folks, I think I may have made a silly mistake whilst changing a drop link.

I did one side which for the first time ever came of easily. However I only jacked up one side of the car & the new one which is a genuine Skoda part rattles just as much as the old one & I can feel play through it when I bounce the suspension.. Just wondering if the best thing to do would be to jack up both sides this time, take it off & re-fit it as it may be slightly misaligned. Any suggestions?

Cheers all. ????

No, these parts have a ball and socket arrangement, so no need to observe best practise of carrying out the final tightening with the car on the ground etc as you should do with assemblies with metalastic/bonded rubber etc bushes.  I think that you might find that the ARB mounting bushes are worn a bit and causing that noise - if it is not drop links.

I suspected ARB bushes but I put one hand on the new link & pushed on the wing to bounce the suspension & can feel play through the rod of the link which was the symptom of every other drop link I've changed. Unless that is a symptom of worn bushes too.

At least the old link was definately knackered so it wasn't a waste of time changing it.

Now you will have provoked "why not buy heavy duty ones like Myele (sp)?" ah well such is life!

Cor,didn't know heavy duty ones existed.

First time I've bought genuines ones & they're giving me grief. Should've got pattern ones never had a problem with those.

Did you use new nuts? I seem to remember that genuine links come without?

Are they tightened properly? Doesn't sound like it to me.

Yeah, that's kinda where I was heading. Re-used fasteners can give poor results in terms of the relation between tightening torque and resulting pre-load.

Did you use a torque wrench?

Yes I got some new ones as I work on the basis that old nylock ones will be no good after they'been removed

I didn't use a torque wrench as I never have on any of the others & it's the first time I'vw ever had a problem. Plus access to the lower nut is tricky anyway

I guess I'd better jack it up again & tighten me nuts if you'll pardon the expression ????

I had a similar issue which was caused by the nuts not being nyloc, so managed to work themselves loose over time. I wouldnt worry about a torque wrench just get them as tight as you can.