Five hours for pretty much fcuk all....

[Darren S]

Right. I will happily hold my hand up here and be flamed, but how the FCUKING HELL do you get the top bolt loosened on the top of the front shocks? :S.

The hex head is 6mm with the nut below it 21mm, but for the love of god, I cannot get the b******s to slacken off. Even when drenched in WD40 and left for hours, they simply refuse to budge.

I even had an 24" extension arm involved at one point, but once the 6mm hex head slipped, I gave that idea up. I certainly wasn't up for shearing the bloody thing completely.

What the hell happened to the old days of three or four bolts coming through the chassis, that you simply slackened off in turn?

Seriously, if I could have punched the car (hard) today and not caused any damage, I would have done. Its the first time in four years that I've been absolutely fuming with it. Stupid fecking arsewipe of a design.

The only good thing that came out of today was another oil and filter change - so it wasn't a total loss.

Probably need to get an airgun on them.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR :quiet: :quiet:

D.

 

[Aluco]

Buy an airgun from ebay, isn't worth the hassle lol!

I hate undoing bolts.

 

[Darren S]

Buy an airgun from ebay, isn't worth the hassle lol!

I hate undoing bolts.

Lol! That might be an idea!

D.

 

[Da]

Lol, took me best part of two days once on a 7 year old 1.2 that had never had them removed before!

As you say, once the 6mm starts slipping it's a slippery road to doom! Ended up cutting the top mount off and buying a new one from Renault.

 

[Darren S]

Lol, took me best part of two days once on a 7 year old 1.2 that had never had them removed before!

As you say, once the 6mm starts slipping it's a slippery road to doom! Ended up cutting the top mount off and buying a new one from Renault.

Jesus. That's something to look forward to, then. :dapprove:

WhyTF is something like this only got a piddling little 6mm socket on it? Were Reno doing some serious lines off a mirror when they designed this?

D.

 

[Whiteley]

My solution. Bl0ody great adjustable on the flats i ground onto the socket and allen driver through the middle:

Edit; it was quite tight!

 

[Sean6545]

Once the you have rounded the 6mm insert and the shocker starts spinning, your fooked.

 

[lemonnobby]

Air gun FTW

 

[Alastair.]

a big set of grips around the shocker ftw!

i changed 2 front struts and top mounts on a clio 2day in 20mins, air guns rule.

 

[Darren S]

Once the you have rounded the 6mm insert and the shocker starts spinning, your fooked.

EXACTLY what I was thinking. It slipped once, and I thought 'fcuk that' - I'm just not going to force it. The 6mm hex still looks intact too.

D.

 

[Darren S]

My solution. Bl0ody great adjustable on the flats i ground onto the socket and allen driver through the middle:



Edit; it was quite tight!

^^^ - FLOL! WTF?!

D.

 

[Alastair.]

EXACTLY what I was thinking. It slipped once, and I thought 'fcuk that' - I'm just not going to force it. The 6mm hex still looks intact too.

D.

a big set of grips around the shocker shaft to stop it from spinning, and ur mate to undo the 21mm top nut

 

[Darren S]

a big set of grips around the shocker shaft to stop it from spinning, and ur mate to undo the 21mm top nut

Cheers m8. I'll give that a go!

D.

 

[DaveLiquid182]

Buy the airgun from screwfix. I bought one yesterday. 1/2" drive with about a dozen impact sockets & a 6" extension all in a nice plastic case £19.99. Well chuffed with it. It buzzed the strut top nuts off a treat

Also a spark plug socket is 21mm and of course its deep so fits a treat.

 

[172Ben]

^

Link??

 

[W17GLE]

I went to a garage asked nicely and they undid it with the airgun for no charge. it took them two seconds to do it

 

[RichCup]

^^ Took mine to qwik fit (of all places!) and they did it in about 2 mins

 

[Gavin J]

Electric 12v impact wrench works just aswell, i bought a Richmond one from Halfords for about £20 with a 1/2" drive a few years ago plug it into your fag lighter and away you go!!! best tool i've EVER bought!!! get one used it for many a suspension change

 

[Gaz_]

a big set of grips around the shocker shaft to stop it from spinning, and ur mate to undo the 21mm top nut

What on the stainless shaft?! Mark them with molegrips, and they will bust the seals.......... BAD.

 

[Ali]

Buzz it off! We had the same problem with Donz Leda's! "The fitter!" put them on with no copperslip and air guns! And rounded the allen key part.

 

[iimushroomzii]

Did mine with a ring spanner and allen key, Piece of piss, you cant be trying hard enough!

 

[mini-valver]

Airgun them. Ever tried to buy a 21mm swan neck spanner? No fucker sells em!

 

[joebristolgym]

2 words - impact gun....preferably an air powered one from a compressor.

 

[SBV116]

Airgun them. Ever tried to buy a 21mm swan neck spanner? No f**ker sells em!

Snap on do......lol!!!

 

[mattjk]

You did try and undo them when the car on the ground yea? I'm sure you did just double checking!

 

[mini-valver]

Snap on do......lol!!!

Snap on? I'm poor Kev, Draper is where its at!!!

 

[DaveLiquid182]

Heres the screwfix link someone wanted.

http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;j...rch=75588&searchbutton.x=55&searchbutton.y=15

It doesnt show the extras you get with it. My photobucket account is fooked, otherwise id take a pic of it for you.

 

[SBV116]

Snap on? I'm poor Kev, Draper is where its at!!!

i seem to recall it was about £45!! BUT, thats not the best bit, its to big to fit in renault strut tops! so its useless!

 

[mini-valver]

LOL! £45 for a paperweight!

Me and Middo searched Stoke on trent for one. Got one for about a tenner at FWB I think in the end!

 

[Darren S]

I take it that you'll need an airgun to put the top mount rubber seals back ok? Doing them by hand will just chew them up?

D.

 

[Fred@BTM]

na just nip them up by hand

 

[Riley!]

heat it up like a mad man with a one of them flame gun things, forgot what you call them lol

 

[mx1_champ]

My solution. Bl0ody great adjustable on the flats i ground onto the socket and allen driver through the middle:

Edit; it was quite tight!

lol i had to make one of them sockets for my mk1 clio 19mm spanner on that , and then a 6mm allen key on a ratchet through the middle worked a treat lol . gets borrowed quite a bit too seems like a handy tool .

 

[Ryan]

I took the struts off my MK1 clio a few years with the swan neck spanner and key method mentioned lol.

A mate held the allen key thing in place and i put a massive bar on the end of the spanner and it came off easy lol

I have a set of spanners from Argos, had them for about 4 years and there still going strong! Cant complain for the money

 

[Rob.]

21MM swan neck spanner With a Allen SOCKET. job done.
I've never been able to undo them with just Allen keys

 

[Ryan]

Was a set similar to this that I bought, much cheaper than air guns etc

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7000962/Trail/searchtext>SPANNER.htm

 

[Turkish]

As for the use of WD40 don't bother, I really don't understand why people insist on using it to free things off. It's a w**k water dispursant not a proper penetrating oil.

 

[SBV116]

^ plus gas is what you need!

 

[Ryan]

As for the use of WD40 don't bother, I really don't understand why people insist on using it to free things off. It's a w**k water dispursant not a proper penetrating oil.

Best stuff i have ever used is from poundland lol

Think its called Super Maintenance Spray