Handling spheres hard to remove

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

Post Reply
Thunderbird

Handling spheres hard to remove

Post by Thunderbird »

What tricks can there be to remove spheres that don't want to come out? (XM mk2)
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
My Cars:
x 92

Post by citronut »

i own a stanly 30cm pipe rench this with a pice of tube aprox 2feet on the end usuly dose the trick,loosen slightly with susp on hight then depresurize system,and unscrew rest of way by hand regards malcolm
oilyspanner
Posts: 1246
Joined: 26 Oct 2003, 16:08
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by oilyspanner »

I have used a chisel and a heavy hammer, a few blows to the ridge running around the "equator" of the sphere, first raise a notch to gain purchase then give it a belt, I use this method on acc spheres where my family size chain wrench will not fit.
Another wrinkle is to tighten a large jubilee clip around the sphere and belt that!
And finally in extreme cases I use a blowlamp and heat the component the sphere is screwed into around the neck, they are usually alloy and have different coefficients of expansion to the steel sphere neck,ther is a chance for dissimilar metal corrosion here and a bit of the hot spanner makes em let go, a combination of the above is sometimes needed especialy if they have been there for a long time.
Stewart[8D]
Peter.N.
Moderating Team
Posts: 11563
Joined: 02 Apr 2005, 16:11
Location: Charmouth,Dorset
My Cars: Currently:

C5 X7 VTR + Satnav Hdi estate Silver
C5 X7 VTR + Hdi Estate 2008 Red

In the past: 3, CX td Safaris and about 7, XM td estates. Lovely cars.
x 1199

Post by Peter.N. »

I have had to resort to the hammer and chisel approach on several occaisions when shear torque rufuses to budge them. I have a chain wrench made from double motorbike chain which, even if you can get it to fit in the space between the sphere and what's next to it, will not allways shift them. Using my old Bradbury jack handle (about 4' long) for leverage only resulted in a snapped 1/2" extension bar!
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
My Cars:
x 92

Post by citronut »

be aware the shpere allbeit partly deflated will still have some nitrogen inside it,i would not sudggest you put heat any where near it,ask you local fire brigade what they think of this practice,as few years ago i saw fire brigade putting out a GS under bonnet fire,they were very concerned of risk from explosion regards malcolm
JohnT
Posts: 344
Joined: 27 Dec 2003, 21:29
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by JohnT »

Quite a simple fix....... get a scrap seat belt with the 'eye' still one one end. Wrap it around the sphere. Place a good screwdriver or length of metal through the eye with the tip digging in to the braid and the sphere. Works every time. If they are persistent first put a sheet of very rough emey paper around the sphere before wrapping around the braid. I use the abrasive paper used on belt sanders.
Post Reply