Removing the old damper 'guts' from a +2 rear strut

PostPost by: NIGELAN » Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:45 pm

Thanks to all the archive posts I have read on the forum I have today managed to remove the rear strut and also succeeded in undoing the notorious threaded cap to the top of the insert tube. So now I have the insert? or original guts to remove from the tube. Do I just grab hold of the damper shaft in some way and pull or do I need to remove the cap like structure on the bottom of the strut tube and hammer the guts out from the bottom end. If I do have to remove the bottom 'cap' is there any approved method.

As always thanks in anticipation of any advice given.
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PostPost by: marklowe » Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:03 pm

Hi,
The insert should just pull out of the damper tube, it may be held by suction as the gap between the insert and tube should be filled with oil to help dissipate heat, or it may just be held fast by years of crud. What appears to be a cap at the bottom isn?t, it is just the bottom of the damper tube protruding out of the aluminium casting.
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PostPost by: john.p.clegg » Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:08 am

I seem to remember in the dim and distant past that some of the dampers are not inserts ( so just pull out ) but use the damper tube as part of the damper...these if I remember correctly need the inner top plate being unscrewed as well as the cap?

John :wink:
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PostPost by: NIGELAN » Wed Oct 01, 2014 9:54 am

Thanks to the excellent advice given by you I am pleased to say that a good sharp tug and it was all removed along with a fairly substantial quantity of vile smelling thin oil that had an odour unlike any oil I have ever encountered.

A little more help please.

Is the insert just removed and shown in PIC '1' the original equipment or a later replacement insert?

PIC '2' shows the old (top) and new Koni (bottom) insert. In the top right of the picture there is an aluminium cap which press fitted over the strut top, do I need this on the new insert and if so does the plastic spacer(?) (bottom right of picture) fit under it or on top of it?

PIC '3' is the instruction sheet from Koni. Hieroglyphs were not part of the curriculum when I was at school so can anyone translate into English steps 3 and 4 or can I ignore them completely?

In order to encourage others I can state that the whole exercise so far has been very straightforward even for an old amateur!

Thanks again
PIC 1.JPG and
PIC 2.JPG and
PIC 3.JPG and
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PostPost by: john.p.clegg » Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:23 am

Pic 1 Original

Pic 2 Just roll the Ali spacer down 2" and its in the correct order of assembly (screw-cap/plastic/ali-spacer )

Never learned Egyptian at skool...sorry

John :wink:
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PostPost by: NIGELAN » Wed Oct 01, 2014 1:29 pm

Thank you for your very clear and helpful replies.

I think the Koni hieroglyphs can be ignored as all seems to fit by just popping the new insert in, so I am going to go with this.

Thanks
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