I am having some trouble with getting the spring off the shock ( fronts ) the top bolt twists in unison with the suspension rod. Is there any trick to getting it off? I already did the back with the 350z suspension and now i need to get the top off to do the front. Any help is huge! thanks!

( 03 g35 sedan )

 

Impact gun.

-Jerome

 

yeah it looks like my only option at this point.. just have to find someone with one

 

That or see if you can grip the shaft with something. But, if you try that, make sure you don't scratch the shaft...

 

yeah i tried to pull that off for a while today just hard to manage alone. I will see what I can do tomorrow thanks for the help though!

 

i used two different sized wrenches. a small one to grab the center rod and then one to fit on the nut. by the time you get the nut to where you cant use the smaller wrench anymore, it shouldnt be spinning in unison and should come right off

 

I hope your compressing the spring before you take the bolt off.

 

^You dont really have to. Just lay it down on the ground aim away from yourself or anything else that may get damaged and put the impact gun to it. You can go to AutoZone or Pepboys and get one for about 60.00. and they are electrical so need mto worry about the battery draining.

 

^ thats foolish

If your going to reuse the struts get a cloth and a vise grip that can fit inbetween the springs our spring are very tightly coiled so i migh be hard to find one that fits. IF it fits clamp the vise grip and slowly remove the top bolt, again make sure u have the spring compressed. What you should of done since it seem liek your using basic hand tools was losen that bolt first while it was on the car but fully just slightly. If the vise grip trick doesnt work have a freind pull the bottom of the strut while u break lose the top bolt. Hope that helps

 

Yeah...aim it at the neighbors house you don't like

 

I predict a future post that starts off like this...

Well, I'm in the hospital now recovering...

 

Stick the strut assembly in a vice and use a deep offset wrench like the one in this link along with another combo wrench to prevent the piston from spinning. DO NOT use vice grips, etc. on the piston.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...00100600&aff=Y

 

I used a vice to grip the square tip. I had a closed end wrench on the nut before it was held in the vice. After a couple knocks with a hammer the nut was free.

 

thanks for all the help! When I get a day off work I'm going to get offset wrench and give it a try! Thanks again for all the help and I will tell you how much the hospital fee it

 

DO NOT USE AN IMPACT WRENCH!! This may seem like the easy way out. What can happen is you try and remove the nut and end up still spinning the shaft which basically destroys the inside of the strut assy. Take the time to do it properly and use the correct tools....and please use a spring compressor.