The final pdf has been uploaded on various threads, but here is the entire thing, if you need it.

 

All told I replaced all mounts, brake discs & calibers, shocks & springs, etc. and I before I put all that in the bin, I was wondering if someone might like the old parts? If someone were on a tight budget they might be useful. The mounts were replaced not because any were broken, but just as preventive. The calibers were working fine, but were replaced for the same reason. The shocks and springs were replaced because one shock developed a leak, and I found shocks at Welsh that already had the springs installed so I decided to replace all four. Even the brake pads were in pretty good nick, I'd give them away free to anyone who could pick them up, or free plus shipping.

What do you think? Is it worth putting an ad in Marketplace, or should I not bother?

 

Keep them in the garage Mac, you might need them!

 

Am I doing something wrong here? Trying to get that shock out by compressing the spring but the lower spring seat seems to be stuck to the shock body. I have tried two units with same result: the shock is compressing along with the spring. Those are VW rotors.

 

Doesn't work that way - the bottom seat is fixed, the upper seat has collets similar to those on the valves in a cylinder head see here Rear dampers

 

Greg,

Those collets can get very stuck. Make sure those discs are giving sufficient clearance for you to remove them. See this thread:

Getting the IRS Damper assemblies apart. - www.jec.org.uk

Paul

 

does that mean give up and take them to a shop? I may have to.

pjts, thanks for the link, I am where they were. I sprayed brake cleaner (brakleen) in there but will have to try the cold chisel next. There’s no movement at all. These rotors will work if I can get some movement between the parts. Strangely, the rears I recently removed from the XJS do not have those two extra holes that many have, and so weren’t able to do this job.

 

Compress the spring so the collet (removable) end is free of the spring. Then get a screwdriver and poke it up into the collet from below (ie from the spring side). Then give the screwdriver a few GOOD whacks with an FBH and they wiill come out.

 

This worked. I turned the nuts on the threaded rods so that they pushed the rotors away from each other, with a short headless bolt holding the bottom shock eye under the bottom rotor (second photo). This had the effect of pushing the lower spring seat off the collets, removing the coil spring's pressure from them. A bit of jiggling with a bent screwdriver and the collets fell out. Unwind the nuts and the whole contraption comes apart, with the springs free from the shocks.

As Paul pointed out above, you really want to use rotors whose centre bore is a bit bigger than the lower shock seat inner diameter so that the collets can drop out once free. Rear rotors from the Jag are ideal.

Now back to raking leaves.

 

I’m about to drop my IRS and was trying to come up with a way to use the HF dollies. I hadn’t thought of using two. Thanks for sharing your clever, cheap, and easy solution!

 

As a conclusion to this thread, I wanted to again thank everyone for the great coaching and encouragement to get this done.

Further, I wanted to share an observation of the evolution of my own attitude toward the infamous/famous Jaguar IRS. Before attempting what seemed a herculean feat of removing the unit, my thoughts could be summed up:

'Wait, to simply change brake discs you have to drop the whole cage? That's as stupid as having to drop a Porsche Boxster engine just to change the oil'
'Small differential leak? I have to drop the whole cage? Are you kidding me? Oh, and while I'm at it, I may as well spend a bunch more money completely refurbishing it...'
'What was Jaguar thinking?'
Dread, and nearly a year's worth of excuses to put the whole thing off.

Afterward, I've grown to actually admire the dang thing. It's really an extraordinary piece of innovation and engineering. I find it somewhat fascinating that the same design works in lightweight sports cars like the E Type or AC Cobra replicas as it does in heavyweights like the Mark X or the Daimler DS420, and over a span of 32 years production. I now realize that the ability to drop the entire unit is a feature and not a bug, and it's not as complex or scary as I always imagined it.

 

Absolutely! With some experience and if things are not badly rusted, I can have one out in 45 min now. For some things, it's just easier to drop the rear and work on it on a bench than to work in the car.