Front sphere hell !!!!

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czenda
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Post by czenda »

What I am missing here is the US precautions:
The objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!
The Citroen sphere removal tool is not a toy!
Never allow children to play with Citroen!
Never allow them to step on it!
May cause death when swallowed!
[:D][:D][:D][:D]
RDD
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Post by RDD »

It's little things like this that make hydraulic Citroens so much cheaper for those of us that understand, and can work on them :)
I drilled all 6 spheres off on my last Xantia. I took reasonable safety precautions, and it didn't hurt a bit. 13mm drill bit, and a loooooong bar :D My eardrums and eyes are intact, and my ribcage isn't crushed to a bloody pulp either. Why did I do it that way? Only way available at the time.
DoubleChevron
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Post by DoubleChevron »

The point I don't understand is just what does drilling a hole in a sphere acheive ??? Other than risking injury and letting the gas out ????
I've come across some tight spheres in the past. The worst being my CX brake accumulator. I ended up ripping big chunks out of it with an air chisel before I finally moved it :( Never would I drill one. Most certainly I'd carefully unscrew the filler plug to release the gas prior to doing anything so seemily crazy.
seeya,
Shane L.
kafkaian
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Post by kafkaian »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by DoubleChevron</i>

The point I don't understand is just what does drilling a hole in a sphere acheive ??? Other than risking injury and letting the gas out ????
I've come across some tight spheres in the past. The worst being my CX brake accumulator. I ended up ripping big chunks out of it with an air chisel before I finally moved it :( Never would I drill one. Most certainly I'd carefully unscrew the filler plug to release the gas prior to doing anything so seemily crazy.
seeya,
Shane L.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Respect your viewpoint. If I come across a hard one then I'll drill it if the requisite tool is unavailable. My choice, which in the end doesn't necessarily make me crazy.
Er...."seeya"
bxbodger
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Post by bxbodger »

Who remembers all those dire warnings BL handbooks used to give about fiddling with the hydragas fluid line valves?? I'm still not dead or blind.......
I can't see the problem with drilling a sphere to jam a lever in if thats the only way to shift it- whats the worse that can happen?:you can't re-use it!!
I can't see it being particularly dangerous- the gas would come out through the drill hole and thats it-its not as if its going to burst into flames or anything!!
oilyspanner
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Post by oilyspanner »

As Doublechevron states there is usually the filler plug which can be released to let out any residual gas pressure in the sphere, if there is hydraulic pressure in there too then someone is going to get a bit of an LHM shower,and possibly a rapidly descending car[:0] I generally have the car up on ramps for rears, up at full height to loosen them, ballasted if they are reluctant (personal record Mum, Dad and two kids sitting in the boot[:D]) I have resorted to the chisel method, a giant chain wrench which came from france, and heating the joint between sphere/ram with a blowlamp, a good belting with a heavy hammer to loosen things a bit, I have never resorted to drilling one but in an emergency, who knows, re the swarf issue would not any swarf be behind the damping valve? I agree with the dire warnings given about working under any hydraulic citroen suspended only by the hydraulics though, they will come down very quickly indeed, new posters welcome to this informative and friendly forum.
Stewart
Dave Bamber
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Post by Dave Bamber »

Last front spear changes I've done, I've loosened them with very large water-pump pliers. Must have been lucky!
Jon

Post by Jon »

I've just read through this thread with disbelief, in 21 years I have never had to drill through a sphere to remove it, usually having the correct (or improvised tool) is good enough, and if the sphere won't budge then some cracks with a hammer and strong chisel are enough to shift it.
Drilling through spheres is potentially dangerous, the fact is that some pressure may still be there, the only way I can think that it could be carried out safely is if you gently undid the top cap with mole grips or similar to carefully release the pressure before you did the drilling, even then, there is a danger of metal shavings dropping into the LHM.
A proper sphere tool will shift them, if you do not have one, borrow one, or make one, or use a heavy duty chain wrench.
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