Mark Hubley |
05-30-2018 04:56 PM |
Advice on removing rear shock w/stripped hex ('06 E90)
The driver's side rear shock on my 2006 325i is making a clunking noise, which appears to be a problem with the upper mount. The car has about 120K miles on it, so I am just going to replace both rear shocks and the associated mounts. Here's the potential problem:
The upper end of the shock has a female hex (5 mm IIRC) into which I can insert an allen wrench to keep the shock from spinning as I remove the 16 mm nut that holds it in the upper mount. It looks like this . . .
https://c1552172.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com/661106_x800.jpg
That hole on the passenger side shock is stripped. So, putting an allen wrench in there does nothing to stop the shock from spinning when I turn the nut.
Any advice on how to deal with this? I haven't tried anything yet, but I'm thinking about cutting away the dust cover and trying to clamp vice grip pliers on the rod. As I plan to replace the shock anyway, if I do a little damage that should not be a problem. I figure the night before I do the work I can spray some penetrating lube on the 16 mm nut.
Any other ideas?
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