Stuffin My Struts

[tomsheppard]

I have finished the long awaited strut rebuild on the BX. Although I saved some money, It is not a job that I would do again because the surface on the outer piston showed wear through the plating which, although it polished up, gives me cause for concern. The first impression is that the ride is a lot firmer, the wheels being better controlled, I guess. The steering wheel is less fidgety, though and the car rises in a series of gentle undulations instead of harsh jerks. I have yet to drive the car far for a settling in period but the tick time has gone from 42 to 54 seconds which indicates that some wear has been nulled out. It is however a bit of a task. Removing the struts is a doddle but if you do, make sure that you don't dislodge the left hand driveshaft, else you'll have a nasty stinky puddle of gear oil to deal with. Quite seriously, if you don't like messing around with blowlamps and stilsons etcetera, I would go for the GSF recons in future.
BTW, if the car is held at 1500 rpm, the front rises in one graceful lift. Now that spheres, struts and doseur are replaced, Would I be likely to get any further improvement from Hydrorincage? Washing out the height correctors, flow distributor and regulator seems quite attractive, but I suspect that the suspension is now in pretty good order. I cannot see Hydrorincage improving the pump output, so I am wondering if the pump is the next thing on the list?

[jeremy]

just an observation - the strut I bought from GSF in July was new in a Citroen box and came with the return pipe already fixed to it.
Interesting to see your comments. Had I been able to get the bits I would have reconditioned mine. Perhaps I didn't do too badly after all!

[AndersDK]

Tom -
As a preventative matter - I'd instantly head for a hydracleanse cure.
The reason is to try prevent any future problems in the FD bugger.
If you are nitty on getting slower ticking interval than the 54seconds you have - then I'd try the regulator steel ball valve re-seating procedure.
The pump and/or the FD will not give you faster ticking intervals if worn/faulty - but other problems.

[tomsheppard]

Tusind tak, makker but I was more intent on getting the rise to be smoother. Certainly having first slackened the regulator bleed, I lost three seconds once re tightened, so I wondered if there was a little corrosion or wear on the ball. I'll try a new one this week after running in the new struts a bit more. For the record, a test drive this evening showed better directional stability and braking- a sure sign that the "new" struts are better damped than the old ones. Renewing the bump is a dream but I have seen one with half the mileage at the scrappie's. I might just give it a try-always useful to carry a spare!

[AndersDK]

Right Tom -
Would also be concerned about the strut cylinders having to be polished - not the best indication of wear.
Here in DK with the vast usage of wintersalt - the antirust sprayers sometimes do a "good" job - hitting the holes on top of the struts in engine bay.
Antirust is not especially good for lubing the struts [:p]
Another thing that's being nagging me is that most of the struts I've removed - had collected dirt at the edge of the strut top slide bush sealing. This MUST have been working as a grinder before it collected here. Again a consequence of the open holes on top - could be sealed/filtered with pieces of foam wrapped around.
At present I've tried lubing the struts - using spray can grease - down the strut holes. Worked like a miracle cure on my running BX.
It's been 3y's I tried this trick on my late BX - lubing the struts by hand with standard grease under the wheelarch gaiters. That worked extremely well too.
At present I'm thinking of my own lubing "receipe" : Nulon + standard grease.
But of course it all comes down to postponing the un-avoidable : replacing worn out struts.