Suspension changing woes

[Iain]

I've just about had enough of this. After destroying one socket set now I'm stuck with my car on axle stands and undrivable. :evil:

I managed to remove the shock absorber with some persuasion, but now I'm stuck getting the upper assemly mountings off to put on the new one. I have a 19mm crank spanner and socket but every time I try to undo the piston rod nut the socket adapter just bends or breaks. Is there a way I can get this thing off a little easier?

Anybody else found this a stupidly difficult job?

[Dar]

They can be a bitch!
Im assuming that you have spring clamps on.
If your going to throw the old shocker away thne you can try and clamp the bar threw the spring with mole grips etc. It might also be worth spraying loads of WD40 on it and then leaving it overnight to soak in.

Hope this helps.

[Iain]

Cheers Dar, yeah I have spring compressors on. I'll spray it with WD40 more and attack with with a crank spanner and mole grips tomorrow and see what I can do. Failing that I guess I'll try drilling it off or something :?

[Jon_nova1]

Yep same happened to me, i had to clamp three sets of molegrips on them :o

a breaker bar is also very useful for the nuts and bolts

[Paul]

two words- air compressor. cant beat it :P

[Will]

ill second pauls comments

takes seconds and works everytime

[DirtyDave]

or for what it costs why don't u fit new top mounts?

[m.d.]

do you need the shocks,

mine did this before and i just clamped the spring. then hacksawed the strut in half (the piston "shiny part") then got the angle grider to the side of the part still attached to the top mount to make a flatt,
you can then grip it in a vice and it wont turn, you can then just get the 17mm socket on the nut and itll be easy to get some weight on

[dan23]

take it 2 garage get it air gunned off or

put shock back on car jus fasten the top 2 mounting use an impact socket on ratchet with scaff bar

[Iain]

thanks for the unecessarily brutal ideas. :P

I got it off in the end using the proper tools (cranked ring spanner/socket) so it's all good. After spending 2 days trying to do that I finished all 4 corners in a day :D