Damn strut collar nut

Sick of the front end being slightly lower on one side, so had a brain wave and decided to dismantle front suspension and rebuild with the parts I got ready for better weather (as if in the uk!). Things going great until the strut collar nuts were seized on both sides:(

Left side I eventually got off by gingerly sawing through the 'ring' so I could split it in half.

Right side came off with 24" stilsons (pipe wrench for USA?) and a length of scaffold pipe.

Struggled for hours getting them both off but I suppose there is some satisfaction I finally cracked it (and a few knuckles:D)

Some one suggested I should wrap the threads in PTFE after assembly to stop water getting in and causing the same problem again, what do you all think?

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Originally Posted by Old Man Pete

Some one suggested I should wrap the threads in PTFE after assembly to stop water getting in and causing the same problem again, what do you all think?

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I guess you could try it ... make sure to pour oil into the strut housing ... it will help dissipate heat from the strut.

Ken

if rust is the cause then yes

definately rust, the date on the mounts was 11/92 and 6/95 so I'm guessing they've been there a long time!

Thanks for the reminder Ken, I also got one as the old oil poured out at my feet :P

It makes me cringe to say this as I normally do everything by the manual. However, for the front strut collar nut, use your pipe wrench and tighten them as snug as possible to keep from having to do it again like I did. From the sound of it you probably already did this, but don't bother re using the original collar - they're readily available, and not very much.

Couldn't reuse them even if I wanted too,one was sawn in half and the other mangled in by a 24" pair of stilsons.
Copper greased exposed threads and PTFE tape on top of that to try and stop any problems if I have to ever do it again!

Tightened them to a really loud grunt tight too!

Probably a bit late now, but look at the picture at the bottom of this page that I added in - a very easy way to take the collar on/off:

http://www.bmwe34.net/Wiki/img/wiki_up/shocknut.jpg

I think alot of the time, applying enough force is not the issue, but getting that force into the parts you want is more the problem