I have the whole shock assembly removed from the car, but the problem is the top of the shaft, where you stick the 5mm allen wrench, is totally rounded out. I tried grabbing the shaft with a vicegrips but the bolt is completely seized up (used pbblaster too).

It seems like my only option is to just cut the top of the shaft. I don't need the old struts since i got new koni's, I just need the bumpstop, dustcover, rubber grommets, and "hat" for the top of the shocks. Even with the springs compressed so that no pressure is on the top, i still can't get enough clearance to cut anything.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

u need an impact wrench, rip that mother right off.

 

Well Hybridvteceg is right, Air tools would take that little bastard right off because it turns it so fast that you don't need to hold 5mm allen key. Try taking the assembly to the local garage if you dont have an impact gun. If you had a grinder, you could grind the head of the bolt off and have it apart that way also.

 

or buy a nut splitter from harborfreight.com for like 5$

 

You could use a shitty $30 spring compressor from autozone to compress the spring, then dremel the top of the shock off so the top hat pulls off. Then pull the shock out from the bottom, decompress, and be done. Try the impact wrench first though, any excuse to use that is a good one!

- Jim

 

Well I finally got it off. I managed to saw the thing off with my dremel