Hey Guys

My Car is a KH Verada, which has a saggy rear end, especially when towing. Tonight, I attempted swapping out my rear coils for some heavy duty dobinsons which arrived last week. And well, everything was going swell and I did the right hand strut no worries, however ran into a bit of a doosy with the left strut. I was just about to get the little locking nut off the top when it got stuck and then Crack! i sheared the poor little bolt end off. Now i can't get any purchase to grip the shaft while trying to undo the locking nut. I'm totally stuck! Anyone have any suggestions? I am happy to buy a replacement strut assembly and just swap my new spring onto it, but that seems like a lot of trouble/expense but i haven't been able to check up on prices as it is friday night!

I have some pics to post up but just realised I can't without some kind of photobucket or something. If anyone wants to help I can send them the pics and perhaps you can post them for me.

Thanks

Matt

Exactly the same thing happened to me not long ago. Grabbed another strut off a wreck.

With images - go to imghostr.me (http://imghostr.me) and upload the photo there.

Copy the "Url" and then put tags around it
e.g. imghostr.me/2318238[/ img] (minus space between / and img)

As for your issue - I'm not fully understanding what you broke. Did you sear the bolt head or did you actually break the shaft (top of the shock) ?

Which part:
[img]http://imghostr.me/images/pabu3.jpg

If you've seared the top bolt (No.2) My suggestion is to douse the bolt in ALOT of WD40/RP7 and leave it soak in for some time. I don't remember if the bolt is aluminum or steel but the trick I've used in the past with some bolts is to weld an old cheap spanner or wrench to it. Otherwise I'd get out a file/rotary tool/dremel and try and shave down the bolt on parallel sides to get some grip with a multigrip/plier

Sorry to say mate but I've had this happen to me before. There's no real way to grip the inside shaft to stop it from turning and turning with the nut.

For those that haven't experienced it, theres a little flat face on the very tip of the strut that you can get your shifter on, this will allow you to turn the nut and get it off, otherwise the inside shaft just spins.

All I can say is they just wear out over time and break off easy sometimes. The whole strut needs replacing unless you know someone that can weld a tack on to the end.

I have a spare pair of half decent rear struts here that I want to get rid of if you want to come around tomorrow.

Do you mean the "flattened end of the strut shaft, just past the threaded section - the part of the shaft you hang on to to so it doesnt spin while you're loosening the nut?

I've had the exact same thing happen - with spring compressed I just used a grinder to grind off the entire nut. One handed. Using a bench grinder :/ = not fun.

It kills the strut, you'll need another.

OR... what Neo said.

Sounds like I need a new strut. Sent you a pm Neo.

This is what it looks like:

http://imghostr.me/images/ijmfD.jpg

and this is what a good one looks like:

http://imghostr.me/images/ReP1h.jpg

Lots of WD40 on the nut and thread, then use spring compressors to shorten the spring so you can get to the shaft below the nut with a pair of vice grips. Hold it and unwind the nut. If it slips use an angle grinder to cut the nut off without damaging the thread.

Failing that, source another strut.

same thing happened to me.
I used an old bike inner tube and placed it over the shaft between the spring soils, got a pair of vice grips and clamped the shaft to stop it spinning, the rubber tube gave the vice grips grip on the smooth shaft, and also stopped it from damaging the strut shaft

Yeah i tried all those first up, was sure that i could get enough purchase, but since the nut was so stuck it just kept spinning. In the end I bought a spare strut and now I'm all good. Thanks to Neo for supplying the struts, got me out of a tough spot - I'm a big fan of this club forum already!

If you want to recycle the busted strut rather than throwing it out, attack the nut with an angle grinder from the side, and shave it down until you meet the shaft threads. Then use a cold chisel and hammer to turn the nut.

Impact driver will probably get that undone, even with the shaft spinning, depending how freely it spins of course.