Bentley Arnage Project - Front Drop Links

When I drove Betty the Bentley home after I purchased her I thought I occasionally heard a slight knock from the front. It gradually got worse and when we took the car off road when we had to park in a field at the Wrangle show it became ever more obvious.  The previous owner had found some paperwork, including the report from the garage that did the service in September of last year. They had taken it on a test drive and noted the slight knock back then, which they had determined to be worn front drop links. That was great because it confirmed my suspicions. I had a look under the car and felt the links by hand, the driver's side one was very obviously completely shot, the passenger side one felt ok but as the car was on it's wheels it's hard to tell for sure. It's best practice to always replace them as a pair anyway, if one is shot the other one is usually not far behind.

For those that don't know the drop links go from the anti roll bar to the lower suspension arms - one each side. The Bentley is a very heavy old Hector and it gives it's suspension components a very hard time. The upper and lower ball joints tend to wear quickly, as do the bushes in the wishbones and the drop links, being Bentley there is a significant tax to be paid on replacement parts. Fortunately Lemforder make parts that fit most of the common wear parts but the drop links seem to be for  this car only. The well known after market boys will sell you a pair for about 400 of yer finest British pounds - part number PD29195p for those who care. If you want the genuine Bentley ones in nice Bentley boxes that price rises to 660 quid!! If you ask me for two ball joints and a short length of steel that is nothing short of obscene. If you go on ebay you can find a pair for £135 or if you go to Ali Express 90 quid will see the job done. I would imagine the quality is significantly lower but those are the ones I have gone for, if they only last a year it's still far better than paying nearly 10 times the price. At the end of the day the are just like a double ended track rod end, the sort of thing that you would expect to pay about 30 quid a pair for, this is a very clear example of why people bang on about how ridiculously expensive these cars are to run and maintain. I would imagine a Bentley garage would charge at least 500 quid labour so you are looking at about £1300 for a job that will cost me 90.

It's not exactly difficult but you do need the correct tools - the main one being a ball joint splitter to separate the upper joint - the one that goes in to the anti roll bar. You can get hydraulic ones but  all I have is an old basic screw type device. If the joint is really tight you may need to get medieval with a hammer  as well as applying pressure with the splitter. Wind it up good and tight and then hit the metal of the roll bar on the side, it should separate with quite a loud pop. I just needed to give the splitter a second with my old faithful Ryobi rattle gun, it popped right off, which made me very happy.The lower joint is different, it is fixed to the lower arm with an allen bolt of about 20mm length. Undo it about half way and then give it a good smack with a hefty hammer, it should pop right out, mine did, although it was incredibly tight and needed a fair bit of pressure on a breaker bar before it loosened. Reversal is a simple reversal of removal, you will need to remove the wheel to make access 100 times easier - should have said that at the start - sorry. Another thing I should have said is that I used 2 trolley jacks, one to lift the car and the other on the suspension arm to take the pressure off the link and just make life easier. Obviously make sure the car is very well supported remembering that it weighs 2.7 tonnes, everything you use eg jacks and axle stands have to be beefy enough, yer average Chinese half ton bottle jack isn't going to do it. If you're not sure leave it to the professionals. Most garages will be able to do this for an hour's labour, although many won't do it if you supply the parts. It's worth an ask if you can't do it yourself safely though.This article should just be taken as entertainment, it's not a tutorial, I am just some old git in a garage, any work you undertake is at your own risk. Video on youtube here - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3HkV2dGBy18

I just thought of another thing - it's not immediately obvious how you get the wheels ff - pop off the center cap, there is s little slot for you to put a flat blade screwdriver in and just flip it off. You will then see 2 allen head bolts - 4mm ones. Undo them, the centre and outer cover then come off. I strongly recommend checking you have a 4mm key and screwdriver in the boot at all times, you will need them if you ever have to change a wheel.