Random but very important question

Hi all

to be honest this is nothing to do with land rovers !

but everyone on here is very knowledgable !

my wifes 2008 fiesta failed its mot on a broken front spring

not a hard job ,well not normaly!!!!

the top nut on the shock also has a allen key hole to stop it turning while undoing the nut ,thing is some #### in past has rounded it off and its also very rusty and of course sunk down !!!!

ive tried all i can think of to try and remove the bolt but im stumped

my question is ,hear me out as its a very strange one and i dont want to kill my self !!!

if i compress the spring a few rings at a time ,will i be able to grind the uncompressed part of the spring off with out if exploding at me ????

also once i have cut the spring off ,do you think its poss to tack a spanner on as high up the rod of the shock with weld so i can hold it so i can then remove the top nut????

im sure the rod in the shock cant travel all the way in when spring fitted can it? esp seeing i think they have bump stops on the rod as well!

then just carefully grind the weld back off

would this work????????? as i so cant efford a new shock right now

I suppose you could cut it?

lol true in the uk

but im in germany postage would be more than the part

to be honest if at all poss i want to try and sort this one as the freelander has all ready bankrupped us this mnth

the nut its self i cant get any thing in to cut it as its sucken even a dremmal has no chance

griff2 said:

the nut its self i cant get any thing in to cut it as its sucken even a dremmal has no chance

Click to expand...

Its a well know problem with the Fiesta unfortunately.

I've seen this many times on lots of different cars. Sometimes it's possible to stop the shock spinning by gripping it right at the top above the normal travel area. This is evident as it will be unpolished. A pipe wrench is a good tool to use for this.

weld a strait Allen key or similar onto the top and then you can hold it and undo the man nut, simples

Take the leg to a garage and let them use an air gun on it. That should shift it. Also you can try a set of mole grips on the top section(that doesn't go past the seals) to giveabit more leverage.

Good luck!

Can you get a pair of mole grips between the spring when the weights off, gripping the inner shocker rod ?

Like the last 2 posts I have managed to grip the shocker shaft with mole grips at the top to get the nut moving. Then compress the spring and you should then be able to remove the securing nut.
Watch the sping isnt handed, I have a Volvo V40 that broke a spring, and I didnt notice that it was offset, so that made refitting a real B of a job.

when you renew your spring have the front wheels facing directly forward or when you tighten that nut at the top it will try to steer which ever way you have the wheels facing

all done

i tried every way poss to hold the shock but it kept spinning !
in the end i had to compress 1/2 the spring then grind/cut the other 1/2 off etc antill the spring was gone

then pull the rubber and enturnal rubber bump stop as far down as poss

then tack weld a spanner as high up the shaft as close to the bolt as i could get,so as last i could stop the shaft spinning

i snapped 2 spanners in 1/2 (halfords pro set) while trying to hold the ####ing thing ,and even while holding and using a air gun it was a #### to remove

any way got it off but threads above the nut totaly ####ed
and so is the top where i should be able to get a allen key in

So i very carefully grinded the weld where the spanner had been off back to org look/feel on shaft (very surprised i got weld on the shock as its sort of chromed )

then at the bolt end i very very very carefyully grinded the ####ed threads off (around 1/2 of all threads on the top) which lucky for me where only the ones above bolt,all where bolt tightens to (if you know what i mean) where good

next a bit of good quality allen key was welded in the top ,regrinded and then all put back together ive made sure the insese where the bolt sits now has a layer of grease covering it so this cant happen again

what a pain that was ,ive never never had a shock that bad before ,but if i ever do ,easyest way if all else fails is to tack weld something on to hold it ,end of day if thats the last resort what you got to loose? i tried it and lucky for me it paid off

Those fiestas are a pain in the arse. Done a few now and the last one I did to a mates car I said how bad they are and he said to just change the shock aswell. A lot easier

Don't plenty of fezzie springs and none have ever given me that much grief.... Glad you got it sorted.