I ROCK

Ok in light of past experience I will try to not mention a certain deceased racer in my tech posts from now on so the thirdgen gestapo doesn't lock me up. I've never seen a post that: 1. contained technical content/questions and 2. did not start a flame war -- locked up until mine. I honestly need to know how to remove the piston nut from a McPherson strut. I got a spring compressor, but I have a hard time seeing that work since I already took out the strut and put it lengthwise in a big vise and couldn't turn the nut. The problem is that the piston cover and whatever the assembly under that that is imbedded with the upper mount (with the three bolt holes in it) simply spins with the bolt. Since it's a 46 ft/lb nut I can't just grip the cover and turn the nut like with a shock. Can I destroy the old piston nuts and get away with tightly hand ratcheting the nut until my grip gives? Do I need to reuse to piston cover? (the new struts came with piston nuts but no covers). Thanks for any and all advice; I'd love to drive my car tomorrow so right now I'm going to go give the compressor a whirl. Get it, whirl? Geez I slay me. Did anyone see the Daytona 500 yesterday? Oh, sorry, never mind about that...

[This message has been edited by I ROCK (edited February 20, 2001).]

I ROCK

Also Please Please PLEASE no one respond to this unless you have strut advice. I don't want this one locked because I'm very serious about needing help. Thanks again.

thunderstick

I'm a little confused here... Are you trying to say that you need to get the upper mount nut off of the strut, and it's stuck as all hell? You should be able to hold the "rod" itself with a wrench or vicegrips as you loosen the nut with a wrench. You shouldn't have to do anything else... Unless I don't understand what you're trying to do...

KAM

I ROCK

That's exactly what I'm doing - but in order to grip that rod (hehe) I'll need to break or somehow otherwise remove the plastic rod cover that protects the rod during driving. Since the aftermarket struts did not come with such a cover, I'm leary about destroying the stock one, although at this point I'm so pissed I might just do it. Other than this nut, I'm really not sure what all the "strut stigma" is about. Loosen the lugs, jack up on the LCA, remove the wheel, remove four bolts underneath and one up top and you're done. I took the rotor and caliper off for convenience but geez...

ede

i rock can't say i understand what you're talking about. insulting me and or any of the other moderators here isn't the way to make friends. you read the user agreement so basically you must comply with that, but you know we all let alot of things slide past that don't belong or should be locked. if you want to post non tech go to www.nethirdgen.org
if you have a problem with how the site is run write dirk, if you have a problem with a moderator write dirk, or the moderator and see if the problem can be resolved or explained to you. i'm locking this not so much because of content, but to prevent it from becoming a long winded post. you have the answer to your tech question and if you aren't happy with that you can always repost it. something you need to keep in mind here is that the site belongs to dirk and he can allow or not allow anything he wants and we all try to follow his rules.

[This message has been edited by ede (edited February 20, 2001).]