Suspension Tops

[traff]

i know that most of us who have tried to remove the top nut from the front turret have failed,well its my turn today.......no amount of wd40 or heat has any effect.....the only way i can think is to cut off the top cups, and dealing with the nut on the floor.....many of you have done so....my question is...where do i get new top cups from ....are they a dealer only part , or local motor factor ? many thanks traff

[sparky Paul]

Dealer only part I'm afraid, IIRC they were about £4+VAT each when I bought a pair a few years ago.

 

Ford part number is 7201835 - Front Strut top Cover.

 

You can also buy the top nut separately, but the top covers I received had nuts affixed to them.

[2004AUY85kwTDI]

When I changed my shock absorbers I used a drill to remove the old ones. First I filled the unbraco hole with a sutable bolt of soft iron. Then I started with a 4-5 mm drillbit then one around 8mm and finaly 13 mm drillbit. It is not possible to drill strait down from the top. You must drill with and angle (I think I removed the wiper mecanisme), started drilling in the top of the nut as close to the absorber bolt as possible. With the correct angle your drillbit will end in the senter of the bottom part of the nut.

If your angle is not correct it will anyway be easy to twist the absorber bolt off.

The reason for filling the unbraco hole is to avoid damaging/locking your drillbit when a part of the drillbit starts to enter into the hole.

 

The job is easy, but for me to explain it is hard.. :)

 

This will offcourse totaly damage your old absorber so maybe it is not the best way for you.

The car repair shops always use a pneumatic hammer, on the galaxy with a universal joint because no acsess strait from the top.

I fitted new monroe reflex absorbers (new nuts came with the absorbers) and the car feels like new. I must say that the aft absorbers were most worn.

Anyway good luck with your job

[traff]

thanks for the reply chaps.....i went to vw today and ordered a pair of limit stops....thats what they call them....for 11 quid....good ideas given....but i think im gona go with the grinder method as i need to keep the strut.......small note to anybody who uses a blow torch.....beware of the bonnet pull cable.....its hidden and it will melt.......thanks all ..regards ..traff

[Bigjeeze]

I changed mine back in January but because I had regularly oiled the tops I had no trouble at all in removing the nuits. I changed the top mounts (even though there was nothing wrong with the old ones!!) to please an incompetent MOT tester. The shocks were fine and went back on even with 175k on the clock!

[mikej]

Sorry to hijack your post but out of interest when replacing the front legs or struts what else exactly do you need to order to replace the top mount, i understand the cups are seperate but am i right in thinking just rubber mount and bearing or is the bearing already fitted in the rubber mount, been some years since i've done one?

cheers

mike.

[sparky Paul]

The bearing and rubber are separate, but often come together as part of a kit.

 

If you are changing the struts, you will also need a new driveshaft bolt and a pinch bolt for the hub. The driveshaft bolt is a single use stretch bolt, and the pinch bolt corrodes in the gap and are prone to shearing - so take care when removing.

[mikej]

Cheers Paul, changed my o/s driveshaft on friday and used old bolt, didn't realise it was a once only so thanks for the heads up also had a garage replace my daughters polo front spring last week and when i gave them a new pinch bolt they just laughed and said nah don't need that untill i told them to use it. Like most really not looking forward to this job lol. ;)

[sparky Paul]

The pinch bolt is reusable if it's in good condition, but both sides on mine were corroded, totally kaput. Lots of heat was needed to extract the bolts without them shearing.