Stripping struts.

[AlanS]

Has anybody here ever pulled a strut apart and if so, is there any tricks apart from brute force and butchery to get that bloody bush off that screws onto the main body of the strut.
To me it looks like a "destroy and replace" situation, but being in the colonies, I wonder how easy or possible it is to get a replacement?


Alan S

[Brian]

Hi Alan,

I guess you are refering to the front struts... If so, then...

Well, yes I did have a go some time back, purely as an exercise and got stuck, I assume at the same point as you..

I then cleaned up all the internals, spent a long time removing all the ridge marks on the centre stanchion, using very fine wet and dry soaked in diesel, then re assembled.

As there were no obvious major wear on the bushes, I re-assembled.
It still remains a spare to this day !!!

I did take some picies though, a couple below..

Be interested to know if you do progress any further...

[cauchoiskev]

Yep, those bushes really are a swine to unscrew. When I saw the price of the size of Stilson required, I made up a couple of DIY jobs, on the same model as my sphere-remover :





Even at that, it was difficult to avoid slippage, I was amazed how much I had to tighten the nuts.

You have to be careful to grip only the widest (bottom) part of the bush, or you will damage it :



Well worth it though, change the teflon and o-ring joints, you've got a new strut ! (This one had 300000km and virtually no visible wear of the sliders).

[cauchoiskev]

Be interested to know if you do progress any further...

How much further would you want to go, Brian ? Was it just the bottom screw which didn't come off ?

[ellevie]

The Citroen service manual shows a special tool being used to clamp the lower end of the strut in a vice and and a chain wrench being used to free the top.

chain wrench used to free the bush


special clamp used to grip the lower end in a vice

[Brian]

Yes it was the bottom screw I could not loosen.

I did clamp the unit long wise in a vice, and managed to undo the top using Stilsons and a long piece of heavy gauge water pipe as a lever extension..

[cauchoiskev]

Comical illustration of Citroën mechanic undoing BX front strut bush with a 12 inch chain wrench and one hand in his pocket... Hilarious

[AndersDK]

It helps a LOT if you heat the upper threaded part for the bush. The thread is locked with the hard type threadlock compound.

Use a heated-air gun. Do not use open fire torches.

PS : any steelbar used for the threaded rod U-clamp approach shown above, must be at least 4mm wallthickness to withstand the forces needed. Use spacers under the nuts to ease friction.

PPS : might proove a simple job just cracking the top nut/bush while strut still fitted on car - with wheel removed and suspension locked in highest.

[AlanS]

Thanks for all this so far, but can anybody tell me if that top bush is readily available as a part and if so some idea of cost?
At the present stage, I understand the guy doing the actual job is modifying the hub so he has something to hold it with the intention of holding the hub in a large vice on a steel bench that is bolted to the floor, so it's capable of copping some extreme forces.




Alan S

[cauchoiskev]

In principle, it's still available :

96004372 PALIER 42,79 EUR

[mat_fenwick]

I've received the following message regarding this thread:

I'm french, crazy about Citroën's cars.
I've just received a BX.
Its a TZD turbo, first registration : 27/07/1990.
There were lots of hydraulics leaks, all of them are resolved yet.
One of the front stripping struts leaked and your forum helped me to open the strut.
I'm not registred on your forum and I don't know if I can post one coment as an Invite to thanks the members who participed at this topics : https://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7762
So I thanks you to do this.

I don't know if any of the original posters will read this (I know one won't ) though, but a nice sentiment.

[Kitch]

I've received the following message regarding this thread:

I'm french, crazy about Citroën's cars.
I've just received a BX.
Its a TZD turbo, first registration : 27/07/1990.
There were lots of hydraulics leaks, all of them are resolved yet.
One of the front stripping struts leaked and your forum helped me to open the strut.
I'm not registred on your forum and I don't know if I can post one coment as an Invite to thanks the members who participed at this topics : https://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7762
So I thanks you to do this.

I don't know if any of the original posters will read this (I know one won't ) though, but a nice sentiment.

Nice to read

[Jaba]

This sort of thing shows the usefulness of the Forum as a 'how to' archive.
I have reconned a couple of these. The important bit is to polish out the wear ridges. I still have a new top bush to use sometime.
If anyone remembers Bob Smith he has done one or two as well using a - cut down with an angle grinder - front hub to use for clamping the strut.

Message au BX crazy francais; tu peux s'abonner facilement au Forum. Faites le vivement !

[Philip Chidlow]

Tell me I'm being a fool, but I was wondering will there come a time when it might be possible to use Xantia front suspension on a BX? Or is there a major shortage of those parts too I wonder? I know it wouldn't work without a lot of ingenuity and work. If it could work that is.