Suspension Brakes Most liked posts in thread: Ohlins Road & Track Coilovers/Strut Nut Sockets?

Systemlord......

Lordy Lordy Lordy..... Grab Dat Wrench of Torque... Set it at 29.5 feet of pounds... Try it a few times on your wheel nuts..... Kinda get the feel of what 29.5 feels like.... Then wench it with a regular socket and a vice grips and your Allen key.... Get them installed and out of your brothers garage before Friday..... You'll be close enough on the setting.... Then when you have time, use the correct tool at a later date...

Like this (but with the correct size socket)...

And you know the torque can be applied to the allen wrench... right.... The socket just keeps the shaft from turning... Unless the wall of the allen (socket) is thin, be careful you don't damage the allen socket inside the shaft end...

 

When I needed one of these in my VW-driving days, I bought a deep Craftsman socket of the correct size, slapped it into a Bridgeport mill and made my own. It's not perfect, but I needed it in a hurry and it worked.

 

Get a socket that fits the nut. Spark plug socket or one that you've ground flat spots
into the top makes it easier, but if not, then get a big vice-grips and grip the top of
the socket with that. Then put a 5 mm allen long enough to go through the drive hole
of the socket and into the strut shaft. This can be a long allen socket or a long enough
L shaped allen wrench or even one with a T-handle. Sometimes you can even fit a
small 1/4" drive 5mm allen socket into the strut shaft and then put the nut shaft over
that and engage the 5mm allen socket with a 1/4" drive 3" extension bar.

In any case, you can hold the allen fixed with one hand and turn the nut socket via
the vice grips' handle with the other. A good guess at 30 ft-lb by hand should suffice.

If you get one of the Strut Nut Sockets with the cutout, it just makes it easier to do all this,
by putting an L shaped allen wrench through the cutout and into the strut shaft.

 

Use the torque wrench on a long 6 mm hex socket like this, passed through the hole
of the pass through socket while the 17mm pass through and its wrench holds the nut.
(or you can hold the torque wrench and turn the 17mm - the torque wrench will still
click at or deflect to the right torque just the same).


The hex socket probably doesn't need to be nearly as long as this one to work with a
pass through socket, nor does it need to be the ball-end type as shown.
One like this would be fine:

 

I think what you are looking at is a sleeve covering the threaded shaft in the first picture...

Here you go.... Laser - 4984 Difficult Access Socket Set 3/8"D - - Amazon.com



Don't know if you can buy them individually....

 

There are some individual ones here - 16,18,19,21,22,24:
Search SiteSearch Strut Nut Socket - ECS Tuning

M14 nut is usually 21 mm socket size (13/16" = 20.64 mm), and M12 is usually 18 mm, but sometimes the nuts are thinner.

 

How bout reverse the tools. Grab the outside of the correct socket with a strong pair of vise grips and hold the nut in place while you use the hex socket on the torque wrench through the back of the socket. Does that make sense?

 

I've done that except I usually turn the nut with the vise grips unless the strut is
off the car so I don't just spin the strut shaft. Once you're almost tightened up using
the hex with the torque wrench to finalize it is ok. Can also grind a couple flats on the
top of the socket to make it easier to grab. Can also use a spark plug socket of the
correct size (if one exists for the nut size) as you can use a wrench on the top of it
and put a hex tool through the hole or a 1/4" extension and a 1/4" drive hex socket
inside it (sometimes have to drill the spark plug socket hole a tiny bit for some extensions
to go through. Can sometimes use a 75 degree offset box wrench if there's room for it.
It looks like there is on the Ohlin, but the stock strut bearing's hole is too small for that
unless the wrench is very thin-walled.

 

Or this:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vOCcFB5eqg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vOCcFB5eqg[/ame]

 

Of course....

Sounds like you are all set with the tools you have...

 

I like this idea better. And if you're concerned about socket grip file some flats on the socket.

http://www.motoringalliance.com/gallery/data/569/medium/DSCN07631.JPG

 

Does the go-through 17mm socket work? It should.