Front strut nut removal trick

[m3f_YAOGinanM3_a6dcbd0afd]

FWIW, my impact is rechargeable electric, not air. I bought it to do the job described in this thread and it has paid for its self many times over. I struggled without it for nearly an entire day before I broke down and spent the money.



And coil compressors can be borrowed for free at many auto parts stores.



I have very good air tools but the last couple years I've been eyeing the improving cordless impact drivers out there. I have a thing against the dead batteries that these heavy duty tools produce. Even in my busy home garage it kills me to pay what new batteries cost so I've just stuck with air. But there are some kick ass Ingersol Rand cordless impacts now that are almost as powerful as my good 1/2" IR impact gun. They are very tempting to avoid having the compressor come on at midnight and to use for those low fastener count jobs where the power and speed of a gun is attractive. I have a birthday coming up in a months maybe my kids will buy one for me...

[m3f_YAOGinanM3_a6dcbd0afd]

Hey, if impact wrenches work for ya'll, carry on. This post was supposed to be a tip for folks like me without access to a good air setup or who are skeeved by the *possibility* of stripping threads or seals. Yeesh. Everything's gotta be a competition in these parts...



Sorry to have offended you. My comments were not meant to be competitive with your post. I was trying to explain how most professional and experienced mechanics do it and why. Sure if you are going to do this job once in your life your post might be helpful to someone in a similar situation. But I think most folks posting with methods they have used successfully are on their fifth or twentieth time doing this and know what works and know that the tiny hex keyhole strips very easily and that there are better more effective methods than using the hex keyhole.



HTH!

[m3f_drtwofish_aac1f2a5e1]

Sorry to have offended you. My comments were not meant to be competitive with your post. I was trying to explain how most professional and experienced mechanics do it and why. Sure if you are going to do this job once in your life your post might be helpful to someone in a similar situation. But I think most folks posting with methods they have used successfully are on their fifth or twentieth time doing this and know what works and know that the tiny hex keyhole strips very easily and that there are better more effective methods than using the hex keyhole.



HTH!



No problem, man, I was a little too touchy that day. All is good, and I'm glad we were able to give a range of options to anybody searching these threads in the future. It's always good to have options how to do these jobs depending on equipment and constraints!



:hattip:

[m3f_rootrider_6ef5121b77]

I have done this job using a clean piece of radiator hose wrapped around the upper part of the strut shaft and extra large vice grips to hold the shaft and then a socket that fits the strut nut with a 1/2" breaker bar switching over to a 1/2" ratchet once the nut is loose.



this seems the most logical solution to me so far, if an impact gun isn't available.

[m3f_bostonaudi_2100c0c1e4]

I've been doing struts for going on 30 yrs, impact fine but with adjustable shocks its better to use non-self locking nuts, like nylon as they resist turning and can cause the shaft to spin like crazy. I use regular nuts, and that in fact is what Koni ships with their front struts now. I don't like the idea of holding the shock shaft and with regular nuts it isn't necessary.

[m3f_vanishM3_3597d8a9e7]

adding my .02 cents because some of the info in this thread helped me complete the front strut job a few weeks ago without any air/power tools.



-since it seems impossible to get a torque wrench on the strut nut I did a count of threads on the nut of old strut before I loosened it so I would know roughly how tight it needs to be.



-if the old struts are being discarded then its ok to vice grip the piston so a solid wrenching can be applied to the nut.



-for installation of the nut I was not keen on following a few of the methods mentioned (impact and vice grip/belt methods) so I did my take on the OPs solution which worked great albeit slow



-22 mm socket with two of the sides shaved down so a wrench can sit flush on it (1" was the size I had that ended up working). A hex socket shaved down to fit inside the 22mm socket is held using vice grips, its inserted into the top of the piston to keep it from spinning.



-there was plenty of room to keep wrenching the nut down to its supposed tightness, the nuts supplied w/ oem sachs are self locking.



http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e157/VanishS14/IMG_20141130_113816997.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e157/VanishS14/IMG_20141130_114118412.jpg