STUCK - Strut will not come out!, Cartridge stuck in the chamber Options

[ctc911ctc]

'74 2.0, 24K miles all original

Teeners,

When I first got this car revived (it was parked in '84, I revived it in 2018) i left the shocks alone.

IN 2019 I installed a nice system in the rear.

This year I am doing the front - all bushings, and other rubber parts (ball joints).

The project came to a halt, I cannot get the strut out of the cylinder



I will rig a system to press it out later today

I am checking in to see if there might be something I may be missing?

I have hit is pretty hard to try and loosen it, no luck yet, soaked it with Liquid Wrench over night.





Thanks!

[Superhawk996]

Here is what your dealing with at the bottom end of Bilstein strut inset for Boge strut bodies.

The metal body of a Bilsten insert actually holds the damping rod (it's inverted) and the actual valve body for the damper is up in the chrome "big" end that you see.

This metal end cap is probably severely rusted to the strut body and/or has been jammed in there hard by hitting full jounce too many times. Also Bilstein's are pretty tight to the strut body since they need such a large tube to guide the upper inverted damper. Point being your Liquid Wrench / PB Blaster probably isn't even getting down to bottom where it's needed most.

Invert strut and put the PB blaster in from the bottom though the ball joint and the other hole so it gets where it's needed.

Can can get pretty aggressive with the hammer and the punch since you're hitting this gold colored steel end cap that is probably well rusted. Don't go 3 lb sledge on it though. Heat is your friend.

Steel end cap