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]

Glad you got it out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

The second picture confuses me. Looks like the yellow Bilstein strut insert has separated. What I mean by that is the small diameter damping rod (with the black jounce bumper) and it's associated end cap have separated from the yellow tube / body of the strut insert.

How did that happen if you were driving the steel damping rod end cap downward into the yellow strut body?

Doesn't really matter since you're replacing the inserts. Now that you have it apart like that, I'd love to see an internal picture of the yellow strut body. Can the large diameter chrome valve body be removed from the yellow outer tube? If so, you should be able to see a pair of teflon coated linear bushings (and some sort of seal to the large diameter chrome body) that guide the large diameter chrome valve body within the outer yellow tube. I'm wondering if they are the same setup as the original green Bilstein struts or some other variation?

I'm also curious how the small diameter damping rod is secured to the bottom steel plate that you were hitting on. Is it welded or perhaps deformed into the end cap like a rivet or such?

Sorry for the 20 questions, I've just never seen a Bilstein insert separated like that. @ctc911ctc