Rusted In

[Captainhaak]

Working on replacing the front struts on my 72z, which i am assuming haven't been replaced in 40 years because the darn struts are stuck in the housings. I have taken off the wheel mount and have been banging away and attempting to twist the strut free of the housing via opposing pipe wrenches. any success with this sort of situation???????

[zKars]

This has been recently discussed. Do a bit of searching. Solutions involved everything from massive amounts of penetrating oil, time, torque and tension to drilling through the strut bottom and pounding it out with a punch from below.

About the only bad (but very tempting...) idea is lots of heat, which creates an explosion hazard with the shock contents. The amount of heat needed to make any significant difference to the rust bond is likely more than is safe to conduct to the shock body. Just don't do it. Stay away from any method that would distort the strut tube or threads, which would render it useless even if the shock did eventually come out. Good luck

Edited October 23, 2012 by zKars

[Zed Head]

Working on replacing the front struts on my 72z, which i am assuming haven't been replaced in 40 years because the darn struts are stuck in the housings. I have taken off the wheel mount and have been banging away and attempting to twist the strut free of the housing via opposing pipe wrenches. any success with this sort of situation???????

No offense, but you did remove the gland nut, right? Can't be sure, you said you removed the "wheel mount" which is not a common term. Plus, where would you attach opposing pipe wrenches. The shaft will twist inside the strut so that wouldn't work. Not clear what you're torquing on.

[Captainhaak]

no offense taken, i probably should have removed the nut (I didn't) struts came right out. thank you for the assistance

[olzed]

Well that was a simple fix.