Hey guys,

So I was putting my stock springs back on today and upon taking the shock apart to get the spring off ran into a huge issue. The nut that you unscrew to get the spring off would not come off. We got it to unthread about an inch but then the alan socket at the end of the bolt stripped and left us with the nut being about an inch loose and no way to tighten the thing down or loosen it (since the bolt turns with no way to hold it in place tight enough to work on the nut itself). We tried to carefully use clamps to hold the bolt in place and realized we were just making matters worse by stripping the threading on the bolt. So no we are going to rethread the bolt, but we are in need of ideas on how to put it all back together, which means getting that nut tightened back down the inch or so we loosened it. I can't even drive my Fit right now because of one damn Nut.

Any ideas or thoughts would be super helpful.

 

I had this happen with my passenger front strut nut- our local Honda dealer knows me and my work, and knew that I wasn't a moron who'd strip the thread on purpose, and replaced the strut and hardware under warranty (even with a carry-in!).

I hate to say it, but a new shock or strut (you didn't specify an end or corner) and hardware are likely in your future. There really isn't a safe way to re-thread that rod on any corner- Mark W.

 

I feel for you and I came close to doing the exact same thing. Maybe post an ad for a used one here or check ebay.

 

I had something similar happen. The nut wouldn't come off and I eventually stripped it taking it off with brute force/impact driver. Had to rethread it using a kit, and had to use a thread file on the strut bolt as well...

I think I had to cut off a bit of the bolt using a jigsaw because it was so mangled up from taking the nut off - which meant I didn't have the allen socket to hold the bolt when reinstalling everything. Still worked out though.

 

what was your solution? im still on this boat and ill be taking out my struts and putting coilovers, but i cant fit anything over the strut and under the window to cut the thread or bolt... can you help me out

 

I foresee a new strut in your future... Mark W.

 

If you have the wipers off you should be able to fit an impact gun in there to remove the nut.