No jacked the rear up and removed the wheels as well
Aha.
Did you use the Mazda jack or a trolley jack?
If a trolley jack, where did you jack from??
Thanks for the tips btw
I used a trolley jack, and wooden blocks and axel stands for safety. For the front there is a cross member to jack from if I remember correctly.
For the rear, I think the owners manual suggests the diff, but I think there has been some discussion regarding how suitable this is. Do a search on here for the correct info.
Not the case for anti-roll bar links on the NC as they are a ball joint which can freely rotate.
Cheers Robbie.
I still think Old Skool.
Indeed, as I found out when I tried to get the nuts off!
Any tips on that, Robbie??
Clean up the treads best possible. Break the joint off to expose the ball, good pair of vice grips on the ball, good fitting socket and ideally a power tool, undo the nut quickly, it’ll get hot, use the heat to your advantage and don’t stop unscrewing it until its off!
Got one done, 3 to go.
One problem is that Autolink have sent an identical pair, which I know will go on the back.
However, the other two are completely different to each other, one is black and similar to the rear ones, except the joints are at 90 degrees to each other, rather than 180.
The other one is .much longer and silver. Can this be correct??
They must be the same length across each axle.
Something is not right there. For the MX5 parts offering the rears are identical with a bar length of approx. 60 mm, the fronts are sided (mirrored) with a bar length of approx 78mm.
hth
Hmmm, I did triple check before clicking on submit.
Looks like I need to ring Autolink Monday morning…
Your Order Details…
Product Code | Description | Item Price | Qty | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
NM01238 | Stabiliser drop link, Mazda MX-5 mk3, 2005-15, rear, l/h or r/h | £ 9.40 | 2 | £ 18.80 |
Notes: | ||||
0 | ||||
NM01178 | Stabiliser drop link, Mazda MX-5 mk3, 2005-15, front r/h, right hand, F15134150 | £ 9.94 | 1 | £ 9.94 |
Notes: | ||||
0 | ||||
NM00542 | Stabiliser drop link, Mazda MX-5 mk3, 2005-15, front l/h, left hand, F15134170 | £ 9.94 | 1 | £ 9.94 |
Notes: | ||||
0 | ||||
Subtotal: | £ 38.68 | |||
Delivery (UK mainland): | £ 7.60 | |||
Tax: | £ 9.26 | |||
Total: | £ 55.54 |
Just measured my front drop link, left side as I have the front brake stripped.
The whole link measures 130mm not including the rubber boots. The bar in-between the cups measures 80mm. These are OEM drop links. The other side should measure the same but they are handed
Hope that helps
Thanks, that’s really kind.
When I came to revisit the front links, I found that it was an optical illusion, the silver one only looked longer. It is, in fact, the same length.
So, apologies to Autolink.
Both rears are done now. I found using vice-grips best on the top but the bracket shrouds the lower ball, so sawing through the “bolt” worked best for me.
Jacking the car up is a big help but for the rears, removing the wheell didnt make much difference.
On my previous NC one of the front drop links had parted. The swivel cup part had come away from the ball it was just hanging there. I just noticed it when had to get under the car, these were OEM drop links, original I think. They are apparently likely to give way and not very strong ive read. The aftermarket ones are probably better, well some I gather, Autolink ones I’ve used in the past👍
As I say in my above post with the OEM ones smash the cup part off the ball if
I remember it reveals a plastic cup, smash that off (bar or hammer, brute force ) then I got a pair of stilsons on the ball part for grip and cut it or to turn the nut with a spanner.
The Oem drop links have the four raised dots on the cups and are colour coded for each side.
These are on my current NC, so they’ve either been replaced with OEM part or original. If original they are doing well for over 50k but they look too clean fir that.
I thought they were front and back because on mine they are light blue on the rear both sides and orange on the front.
You are probably correct, mine were showing a blue paint on the dots. The fronts are covered in underseal so can’t tell.
Don’t forget to put some antiseize on the threads of the new parts. Once fitted filling the Allen key slots and greasing any exposed extra thread may help you avoid similar issues next time they need changing.
The steel these are made of seem especially prone to rust and the fine threads coupled with lock nuts is a recipe for seizing when attempting to loosen.
I have had success using a 10mm x 1.25 die nut to clean the exposed threads before undoing which can save the butchery of angle grinding.
Good news is the car passed the MOT
Bad news is I had the same advisories I had the last time
.
So I appear to have some nice shiny new droplinks I didnt acually need…
I thought they looked in reasonable condition
Congratulations, and commiserations all at the same time!