i know this is honda-tech but the subaru community isn't familiar with omnipowers at all. I recently installed my front omnipower coilovers and everything went pretty well except the preload. The strut top is very thick and the nut that is used to preload is in a hole within that strut top. I can't seem to get a socket along with an allen key to tighten or loosen it. Any ideas? i know pictures would help i might snap some.

the rear is a different story and seems doable.





Modified by sjteg at 5:21 PM 1/8/2005

 

looks like a 19mm deep socket should fit but if not you might have to shave some of the of that top cover off with a dremel or something to get a deep socket to fit.

 

maybe you can try taking a deep socket (19mm?) and welding on a 20 mm box end onto the top of the socket, that way, you'll have a nice hole to put the allen wrench through. Also, you may try cutting away some material around the lip of the cover (like maverick said) and try to fit the box end of a wrench on there. Good luck

 

the deep socket would fit but i still need to get the allen key in there. I don't want to dremel it but it looks like i have no choice.

 

can't you just remove that whole rubber top, i'm not familiar with subarus but try poppin that rubber off

 

like I said, if you can weld the deep socket to a box-end wrench, then there will be a hole to stick the allen wrench into. Perhaps bending your own wrench? take your wrench and heat it until it's red hot, using a propane torch, then bend it near the boxend, then maybe midway up the handle, do it again so that you'll have a place to apply torque. Good luck

 

craftsman makes a rachet drive that has an opening in the center. you get that drive and the correct socket you'll be good to go

 

the craftsman rachet sounds like a good idea since i don't have a torch or welder to use.

 

i'm trying to find that ratchet but am having a hard time, any idea what its called?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sjteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'm trying to find that ratchet but am having a hard time, any idea what its called?</TD></TR></TABLE>

gear ratchet at sears

 

alright i know this sounds like a bad idea but this is what I did to the get the bolt off my old struts and it work very well.

push the strut boot up soo you can see the actually strut rod behind it
have someone clamp the strut rod and hold the clamp
while someone just losen/tightin the top

sorry about the crappy directions

 

are you saying to grab the shiny rod that goes into the shock body? If so, any kind of distortion on that rod will ruin the seal and make the shock useless

 

damn, looked up gear ratchet and turns out i have one of those in my garage, problem is reaching deep enough to get to the nut which it can't.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sjteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn, looked up gear ratchet and turns out i have one of those in my garage, problem is reaching deep enough to get to the nut which it can't. </TD></TR></TABLE>

There is another thing that will work, I can't find a pic but say you have a long rod and you want to use a ratchet on it, well a normal ratchet won't work so you need this one, so the rod just goes right threw it.

 

Here I took a pic of it

 

thanks for taking the pic, that looks like it would work. Any idea what its called and where i could get it? TIA

also i should be able to just preload it with the assembly installed correct? The nut is already almost flush with the top of the bolt so i would just need to tighten it down?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sjteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for taking the pic, that looks like it would work. Any idea what its called and where i could get it? TIA

also i should be able to just preload it with the assembly installed correct? The nut is already almost flush with the top of the bolt so i would just need to tighten it down? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Your welcome, the pic was taken from the craftsman book. Gear ratchet makes it.

 

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shop...=2443

This tool should help.

 

my question is why are you touching that bolt for pre-load? for pre-load, wouldnt you pre-load the spring via moving the lower spring perch collar up?
-spenc

 

the spring is already up but the instructions show to move the nut to the top and then adjust to desired height, finish off by tightening nut down 1/2 inch i believe.