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Frozen Strut Cartridge


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Part of the process of upgrading a front suspension (240Z) to coilovers is to remove the old strut inserts. The right side slid out nice as pie, the left side decided to put up a fight. I searched the internet for cures and found everything from a guy trying to pull the insert out with an engine hoist to a variety of heat it and beat it solutions. This is what worked for me.

I put the disassembled strut tube in a vice and removed the gland nut, that did require a fair amount of heat, but once I got it red the gland nut broke free and spun out. Then I filled the tube with PB Blaster and let it soak down adding juice as it seeped through the rust. After several attempts to pull the cartridge out, without success, I reassembled the spring onto the strut. Then I laid it on it's side on the floor, stood on the strut tube and gave the bottom of the strut a couple of whacks with a 2 pound hammer.

Nothing at first, but after a few whacks over a couple of hours the cartridge began to move. When about three inches of the cartridge was showing I removed the spring, put the end of the cartridge in the vice and gave the tube a twist by the spindle. The cartridge came right out and as you can see from the picture it was really rusty. Hope this helps somebody else it worked for me. Remember the spring is compressed and can release with a lot of force so use caution, I put some cardboard boxes in front of the strut to absorb and errant energy!

post-6289-061703500 1329541779_thumb.jpg

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  • 7 months later...

Had a real hard time with mine too. Pb blaster, torched it etc etc.. Ended it up having it sit horizontally in the vice, had a wrench on the top threads and a nut holding it on and just banged on the wrench with a hammer while continuously applying pb blaster!

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See your celebrating with a cold Corona!!!

 

Congrats on your victory

 

 

Actually that was a "Preemtive Corona". I had it in the vice and put a bunch of pressure on it and wasn't sure if it was going to Blow-up or push out.

In either case a Corona was in order so I went ahead and got that part started. A little more pressure and it came out.

 

That Hydraulic Press is real handy. Problem is that 3/8" extensions make great press tools. All of my 3/8" extensions are toast.

 

 

 

TJ

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  • 4 years later...

OK, this is how I did it..Broke the gland nut top off trying to remove it. I cut a groove in the remaining surface and took my air chisel and used heat and it came free. Of course the cartridge was frozen..real bad. Soaked it with penetrating oil over night. Next day, I welded a cast iron plate with a hole in the middle to the top of the strut. I then hung it upside down in a large vise grabbing it by the collar near the spindle. Its real strong down there and you can really clamp down on it. I then heated the area of the strut near the gland nut...not too much..everything pointed away from me at the floor. Next I took my maul and beat the crap out it..had to reweld the plate two times...each time stronger. Finally, it moved. Got a large pipe wrench and grabbed it and turned it in the tube. A couple of more wacks and it was free. Hope this helps.

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