Xantia Sphere Removal Tool

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gadgetgricey
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Xantia Sphere Removal Tool

Post by gadgetgricey »

Seen a few posts on here about a Sphere removal tool available from GSF.

Had a look on their website and cant seem to find it.

Anybody aware of the part number, or would be able to point me in the right direction.

Thanks

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Post by handyman »

Try Martin at

Pleiades
Unit 12A Brookside Industrial Estate
Sawtry
PE28 5SB

Tel 01487 831239

Very easy to find, just off the A1M between St. Neots and Peterborough.

They make a really nice tool. :shock:

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Post by DaveW »

You can always make one, it's very easy.
All you need is -

Approximately 16 inches of 8 mm threaded rod ('all threads' from your local hardware shop)
2x8mm nuts and washers
24 inches of 15mm square steel tubing (15mm is the minimum so if you have an odd bit of a larger size lying around, that will work just as well).

Construction -

Bend the threaded rod around an old sphere or something with the same diameter (I understand that some lamp-posts and iron bollards are the right size, but ..........) to form a monster sized 'U' bolt with equal length 'arms'.

At about 1 inch from the end of the square tube drill an 8mm hole right through the two walls and another further down at the same distance that you have between the arms of your 'U' bolt. Slide the arms of the 'U' bolt through these holes and put a washer and nut on each. Job done.

In use you just slip this over the rear sphere close to the weld, tighten the nuts and heave ho. It cracks the sphere off with little effort and with good control. The front spheres are usually pretty easy to loosen with a good strap or chain wrench but if you get a difficult one this tool will make short work of it.

I made mine some years ago and have used it to replace several sets of spheres on various cars.


EDIT. Here's a picture .....

Image

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Post by CitroJim »

Ah-ha, a "Xac Special" :D

They work a treat for spheres on a normal non-hydractive car but will fail on a hydractive car or Activa where some spheres are not so accessible.

It might not stand up to really tight spheres where some BF and I* is required along with percussion. We bent Xac's all shapes on my Activa once :lol: :lol:

The great advantages of the Pleiades tool is that it is strong and cunningly angled to get at all those difficult spheres.

It will take some right old punishment as well. Touch-wood, never let me down yet and it's shifted some tough ones. Money well spent.

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Post by DaveW »

Jim,

I have never had occasion to use it on a hydractive car but it has worked fine on everything I have worked on - BX's and non- hydro Xantias.


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Post by Xaccers »

DaveW wrote:Jim,

I have never had occasion to use it on a hydractive car but it has worked fine on everything I have worked on - BX's and non- hydro Xantias.


Dave.
Hydractive ones and Activa ones are awkward to get to, and often not changed for years after they should have been so can be bloody tight.
The steel box bar on mine just couldn't take the force and bent where the lower threaded bar goes through.
The pukka tool is a solid square rod rather than hollow, so it has the advantage of beeing stronger.
I've heard one of the ebay ones, where the bolt goes through the loop to secure the sphere rather than tightening the loop, can be prone to bending the loop on tough spheres.
So for me the choice is first a home made special simply because it's not that expensive or hard to make, and can do most spheres, then if it turns out not to be enough, get hold of the pukka one where the loop is tightened with a bolt, not the ones with a bolt that screws against the sphere. I do find though that the shaft of the pukka tool could do with being 10 inches longer.

Handy tip to anyone who's never sawn through a threaded bar before - put the nuts on the bar first, that way when you screw them off, you clean any burrs off.
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Post by vince »

GSF dont sell them anymore..... :wink:
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Post by CitroJim »

Xac wrote: The pukka tool is a solid square rod rather than hollow, so it has the advantage of beeing stronger.
Make the design from solid bar and I reckon it would be up there with the Pleiades tool. In fact the threaded rod helps it bite into the sphere. If made out of solid bar then a "set" could be put in it to replicate the angle of the Pleiades tool as well.

Yes, I agree the handle is too short although more force can be applied with a boot or by slipping a short length of scaffold pile on it.

Another advantage of a solid shaft is that it can have useful percussion applied to it with a big club hammer and this can help immeasurably to shift the difficult ones.
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Post by Xaccers »

Well, as I need to make a new one, I'll see about getting hold of a solid bar if I can use your vertical drill to make the holes? :)
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Post by vince »

Anyone had any experience of these ones?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CITROEN-XANTIA-BX ... 19b9a0c13f
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Post by CitroJim »

Xac wrote:if I can use your vertical drill to make the holes? :)
I think so :D It only bores vertical ones so if it's horizontal ones you're after, we have a problem...
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Post by Xaccers »

vince wrote:Anyone had any experience of these ones?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CITROEN-XANTIA-BX ... 19b9a0c13f
That's the one where the bolt screws into the sphere to hold it against the loop.
I'm sure someone posted images before of the loop being bent and I'm pretty certain someone else mentioned the thread going.
CitroJim wrote:
Xac wrote:if I can use your vertical drill to make the holes? :)
I think so :D It only bores vertical ones so if it's horizontal ones you're after, we have a problem...
It's ok Jim, we'll just rotate your workshop :D
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Post by lexi »

I`ve got that Ebay one and it`s been fine. It don`t reach all the spheres on Hydractive.

The short cold chisel and hammer used on the weld at the proper angle has always removed the difficult ones for me so far...work on different parts of the sphere once you take a shaving out of weld. Of course there will be spheres that most methods struggle to remove.
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Post by howiedean »

lexi wrote:I`ve got that Ebay one and it`s been fine. It don`t reach all the spheres on Hydractive.

The short cold chisel and hammer used on the weld at the proper angle has always removed the difficult ones for me so far...work on different parts of the sphere once you take a shaving out of weld. Of course there will be spheres that most methods struggle to remove.
The chisel is my prefered method although I might have a look at a pleiades tool now.

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Post by DaveW »

An alternative method that I used successfully a few times before I made a tool is to link two Jubilee clips together to make one large enough to fit the sphere. Fit this onto the sphere and tighten it up as as hard as possible and then put a blunt chisel or short piece of bar one one of the clip adjusters and give it a good whack with a club hammer.


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