question for all, attempted to do the install of lowering spring this past weekend and may have ran into a problem. when attempting to loosen the strut shaft nut I may have stripped the hex bolt. Anyone run into this? possible solutions?

 

bump for some help!

 

I'm surprised that the bolt would be that tight. You can use some vise grips on the shock shaft if you can get them in there, just make sure you have some padding so you don't scratch up the shaft. and don't make it too tight, definitley don't want to make the shaft out of round. Other than that, you can probably get it to stick enough to just use an impact driver on the nut to get it off, without needing the hex fitting...

 

If you want to use vise grips on your shock shaft plan on having a leaking strut in the near future. Nothing personal to the 17 year old, but that is extremely bad advice.

When I had WRX, bad advice like this was given out on the WRX forums for a DIY spring change, and many goof ***** who ended up listening to it ended up complaining of leaking shocks. Use common sence.

Find someone with an impact wrench and it should come right off.

 

I did say to use padding and not make it too tight... I don't think it's going to hurt a solid steel cylinder to put a vise grip on it lightly. And in a last-ditch effort, it would work. An impact wrench would work much better and be a much safer route to go. Notice that I wrote that down too. But yes if taken the wrong way, that was horrible advice. If you take it the right way (not too tight, with padding) no harm will be done. Believe it or not, I had to use this method to get my spring top hats to sit right on my rear shocks. No leaky for me.

 

so with an impact off the car it should come off without holding the center hex ? I have an impact but thought the center would still spin.

I know this is a bit more risky but how bout loosening the strut bolt while still bolted to car so it can not spin? too dangerous? even to just loosen?

 

You are correct it will come off with an impact. Just place the bottom of it (the shock) against something SOLID (like a block wall or concrete step) and pull the trigger. Yes it is under some load but not a lot. I have seen this used on several cars and have done it on mine when we lowered it.

 

Thanks! will try it again, had some issues getting strut off the car the first time.

 

Rather than vise grips with padding, the correct tool would be a strap wrench.

- andrew

 

AH! hadn't even thought of that! much better option. Good thinking

 

I personally would not touch the shock shaft with anything, but hey that's just me...

 

haha thats the safe thing to do. I would never dare do it on anyone elses car... but in a pinch, i would be ok with doing it to my own. A little finesse goes a long way . I'd try the strap wrench before the vise grips though! and it seems that in most cases you can get the nut off with just an impact wrench.

 

I am going to try with an impact this week. I have read in other forums that some loosened the strut bolt some before taking the strut off the car, just enough. Last resort perhaps?

 

in preparing for the worst, you can get oem struts here
http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...pg4.htm#item22

for a lot less than at your dealer.

 

In my experience, my trusty 5+ year old Harbor Freight impact wrench has always loosened the nut with no problems. It's definitely safer to use a spring compressor, but I've also disassambled the strut while in the car also, and it also works no problem.

If you never worked with struts before, just know that it can seriously hurt or kill you if you do something dumb.

 

Well I just got done with installing some IE fixed camber plates and had to use the strap wrench trick. In my case I already had lowering springs on so I didn't need a spring compressor. Also in my case I didn't have the right tool to allow me to turn the nut and hold the hex, so I had to use the strap wrench. To get it tightened all the way, I just put the strut back on and put the car back on the ground. In doing that I realized that pulling the top nut off with the strut still on the car would be your best route, it also relieves the need to have a spring compressor... for the front struts anyways. just be careful when you're jacking up the car, as there is a bit of "punch" to the springs. Also, the drivers side is gonna be tough to get off when using this method, I had to compress the shock (even with lowering springs on) with a jack and a piece of wood, so be careful when doing this if you do remove the nut whit the struts still on the car.