Ohms69
You don't need any special tools to rebuild BX struts
BX struts again
Moderator: RichardW
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tomsheppard
- Posts: 1801
- Joined: 19 Dec 2002, 14:46
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars:
Oh dear. Sorry ohms (MI5 Spook or another tron?) you are making hard work for yourself. The correct procedure is Rubber pipes from strut off first, secondly slip the big nut and lastly the sixteen mil bolt holding the strut to the hub. Five minutes. It will almost certainly be easier to put it all back and start again. I take it that you have removed the strut and sphere mount through the hole in the inner wing having released the hydraulic pipe...
One day we will remember this moment and ...change the subject!
A pair of struts is going to come out at about £260. The repair was £79.
It certainly bears thinking about. You only need to take the strut to the local engineering shop to slip the slide bearing. Tell them the tube is alloy, the bush is being replaced, it screws in but needs about 30 sec with a blowlamp to frighten the loctite and that before they do it, tap the strut vertically on the ground to ensure that all the internal gubbins are down the bottom.
One day we will remember this moment and ...change the subject!
A pair of struts is going to come out at about £260. The repair was £79.
It certainly bears thinking about. You only need to take the strut to the local engineering shop to slip the slide bearing. Tell them the tube is alloy, the bush is being replaced, it screws in but needs about 30 sec with a blowlamp to frighten the loctite and that before they do it, tap the strut vertically on the ground to ensure that all the internal gubbins are down the bottom.
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oilyspanner
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: 26 Oct 2003, 16:08
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars:
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oilyspanner
- Posts: 1246
- Joined: 26 Oct 2003, 16:08
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars:
ohms69 yes £15 is okay, but if you come to collect it you will probably take more bits with you! The car was dismantled in a hurry, the flexible pipe was cut and the whole strut and hub assembly removed (animal eh!)so is currently attached to a hub complete with disc and pads, which side do you want? to remove struts I merely spin off the sphere, remove the hydraulic pipe remove 3 13mm nuts and the whole thing comes off.
Stewart
Stewart
Hi Stewart,
Sorry for mucking you about mate, but I managed to get one today and fitted it this afternoon.
The cars got to be retested by Monday otherwise it costs me another £30...Tomorrows out(G/F's birthday...you know how it goes!![;)]), so it had to be finished today.
Thanks for the offer anyway mate, and If I think of anymore bits I need I'll give you a shout.
All the best
Bryn[:)]
Sorry for mucking you about mate, but I managed to get one today and fitted it this afternoon.
The cars got to be retested by Monday otherwise it costs me another £30...Tomorrows out(G/F's birthday...you know how it goes!![;)]), so it had to be finished today.
Thanks for the offer anyway mate, and If I think of anymore bits I need I'll give you a shout.
All the best
Bryn[:)]
Well, New struts, new spheres all round, new disks and pads all fitted...And the car feels 10 years younger!
The suspension seems to float across bumps that would normally have sent it off course...Most satisfactory, and it all went without a hitch!!
I've refilled the system with hydraflush, but am a little bit concerend about the amount of old LHm left in the system, thus I've had an idea. I currently have about three 1/3 full bottles of hydraflush floating around. I won't be using it for some time, and to be honest would prefer to get it used and free up some space(de-clutter the garage[;)]).
Anyway, I was thinking about draining the reservoir in 1000 miles, cleaning the filters etc etc etc, and refill with this other hydraflush, and run it for a further 1000 miles. My reasoing is that atleast then there will be a higher concentration of hydraflush which will hopefully clean more of the gunk out of the system, plus it can't be doing any harm to get rid of some of the gunk after 1000 miles...What do you think?[:)]
The suspension seems to float across bumps that would normally have sent it off course...Most satisfactory, and it all went without a hitch!!
I've refilled the system with hydraflush, but am a little bit concerend about the amount of old LHm left in the system, thus I've had an idea. I currently have about three 1/3 full bottles of hydraflush floating around. I won't be using it for some time, and to be honest would prefer to get it used and free up some space(de-clutter the garage[;)]).
Anyway, I was thinking about draining the reservoir in 1000 miles, cleaning the filters etc etc etc, and refill with this other hydraflush, and run it for a further 1000 miles. My reasoing is that atleast then there will be a higher concentration of hydraflush which will hopefully clean more of the gunk out of the system, plus it can't be doing any harm to get rid of some of the gunk after 1000 miles...What do you think?[:)]
I would'nt waste my time with this extra fiddling [8D]
The point is to have highest concentration of hydracleanse as possible - which you get by lowering the suspension, relief the system pressure, shift content of reservoir and then bleed the brakes.
The remaining old LHM in pressure lines & spheres are shifted with hydracleanse - and diluted to something like 1:15 - more than adequate.
Once the hydracleanse has been run for some time - the whole cleaning/shifting procedure is repeated - using clean LHM.
By the colour/content of dirt - of the now shifted hydracleanse - you may decide for an extra "tour" on hydracleanse.
In really bad cases the shifted out hydracleanse can in fact resemble what's best described as <i><font color="red">mud</font id="red"></i>.
The point is to have highest concentration of hydracleanse as possible - which you get by lowering the suspension, relief the system pressure, shift content of reservoir and then bleed the brakes.
The remaining old LHM in pressure lines & spheres are shifted with hydracleanse - and diluted to something like 1:15 - more than adequate.
Once the hydracleanse has been run for some time - the whole cleaning/shifting procedure is repeated - using clean LHM.
By the colour/content of dirt - of the now shifted hydracleanse - you may decide for an extra "tour" on hydracleanse.
In really bad cases the shifted out hydracleanse can in fact resemble what's best described as <i><font color="red">mud</font id="red"></i>.
I enjoy wasting time fiddling, keeps me out of the G/F's way, so can't be a bad thing[:p]
I'll check the colour at 100 miles and see how it looks. The thing that made me think of doing this extra rinse was the fact that the hydraflush that came out when I bled the brakes, was a sort of green colour, not the pure orangey brown I'd expected the hydraflush to be.
Got to replace the rear spheres now, I'll save it for another day. I already broke one strap wrench and one chein wrench trying to get the bleeders off.
Anybody know a simple cost effective solution?[:)]
I'll check the colour at 100 miles and see how it looks. The thing that made me think of doing this extra rinse was the fact that the hydraflush that came out when I bled the brakes, was a sort of green colour, not the pure orangey brown I'd expected the hydraflush to be.
Got to replace the rear spheres now, I'll save it for another day. I already broke one strap wrench and one chein wrench trying to get the bleeders off.
Anybody know a simple cost effective solution?[:)]
Yes - I made a very effective sphere wrench from the remains of the chain wrench that I broke trying to undo the spheres.
I was left with a piece of hex bar about 1 inch across with a 1/2 in socket in one end. I welded a strip of steel about 2 1/2 inches wide across opposite flats to form a loop to surround the sphere. The object is to get the band fixed to the bar so that when the bar is turned the band 'wraps' round the bar a little and tightens itself.
I've found this to be 100% effective and always takes longer to put on than it does to undo a sphere (even rear ones 8 years old)
Jeremy
I was left with a piece of hex bar about 1 inch across with a 1/2 in socket in one end. I welded a strip of steel about 2 1/2 inches wide across opposite flats to form a loop to surround the sphere. The object is to get the band fixed to the bar so that when the bar is turned the band 'wraps' round the bar a little and tightens itself.
I've found this to be 100% effective and always takes longer to put on than it does to undo a sphere (even rear ones 8 years old)
Jeremy
This DIY sphere removal tool any help ?
<font size="3"></font id="size3"><font face="Arial"></font id="Arial">I have a sphere wrench that can be borrowed against a fully returnable deposit. (I once made an extractor to remove the bearing outer from the bottom of Lambretta drive shaft tubes and a so called friend made off with it, so never again) I live near Leicester about 10 min. from M1 Jct 22.[B)]
With rear spheres, the key points are :
(1) Full system pressure for the initial "cracking"
(2) A 100% reliable sphere removal tool (band wrench - Pleiades, Andyspares or other). An extension handle helps and can remove you from under the car
(3) No corner-cutting.
(4) STOP and reconsider the instant the suspension cylinders start to rotate - if they do. Suspension pipes CAN be replaced but do you really want to have to do them?
I have a Pleiades tool and can be found in Gosport (Hampshire) should anyone ever need to borrow mine.
(1) Full system pressure for the initial "cracking"
(2) A 100% reliable sphere removal tool (band wrench - Pleiades, Andyspares or other). An extension handle helps and can remove you from under the car
(3) No corner-cutting.
(4) STOP and reconsider the instant the suspension cylinders start to rotate - if they do. Suspension pipes CAN be replaced but do you really want to have to do them?
I have a Pleiades tool and can be found in Gosport (Hampshire) should anyone ever need to borrow mine.