Useful tool

[BogMonster]

I think I have found the answer to reducing the amount of swearing at bottom nuts on front shockers

Ratchety ring spanner

Typically, I even managed to find somewhere here selling something similar but only as a 19mm and the one I need for my front shocker nuts is 17mm

I think it would be the solution though - a bit like the Difflock propshaft tool once you had one you would wonder how you ever coped without it

Only thought I had is how strong the ratchety bit is but I guess it would be OK as long as you loosened the nut with a conventional ringspanner first.

[Turbocharger]

Sorry - no good. When you've done the shock up (with a grin because of your cool new toy) the shock pins the spanner between the spring hanger and the axle. Maybe you could cut a slot in it for retrieval...

[siggy]

Guess you don't have a halfords near you then

oh no probably not that far south

[white90]

Halfords do a set of common sizes for £70 ratchet one end standard the other.

if you want some Stephen I could post them to you.

ps Chq arrived today.

[BogMonster]

Sorry - no good. When you've done the shock up (with a grin because of your cool new toy) the shock pins the spanner between the spring hanger and the axle. Maybe you could cut a slot in it for retrieval...

I guess if you chopped the "pin" off the end of the shocker (the stupid bit about 6mm across that is there to put a spanner on to tighten the nut except it usually rounds off so you end up doing it with a Stilson onto the shocker body as usual) it would fit? You can get an ordinary ringspanner in there with no problem (without chopping off the pin) and this isn't much bigger surely? At the very least if it got you 3/4 of the way there it would save 3/4 of the swearing

Guess who is about to have to take all his firkin suspension to bits again due to propshaft vibration

Words sounding a bit like cluck, fit and rowlocks are about to be uttered I think

Edited ... thanks Tony, but I need to sort this prop vibration out quickly so I think I'll have to grin and bear it. The combination ones (ring one end open ender the other) are what the shop here sells too, just in the wrong sizes. They can go on the shopping list for my next visit to Halfords

[white90]

Halfords do the ring both ends to Now I think about it, worth a visit when you next come over , their tools are good quality.

prop vibes peev'd me to for a long time.

why not use your Disco2 prop and flange first to see if that cures it?

I'll wager £5 it does.

then you can source a double carden joint or a prop what ever you fancy.

[BogMonster]

I found one

Seventeen bluddy quid though a pound a millimetre!

the 19mm one was only £9 in a different shop ... can't work that one out

It fits on fine though, masses of room, not sure why you had a problem Turbocharger? must be half an inch clearance at least.

However I have now decided not to bother anyway (I have the flu at the moment, I crawled underneath and thought "Do I want to spend about 2 hours under here when I am feeling like this" and the answer swiftly came back "do I b****cks!") also if I put the old springs back on now I will need to take it off again to do whatever I eventually decide on.

The other thing that make me decide to leave it for a while is that I have just been for a spin off-road to see what the vibration felt like and it just occurred to me that my old 90 always did that - there is a distinct resonance in the gear lever in 3rd low range at probably about 2000rpm, just the sort of speed range I would often use off road and it must be down to the front prop. I always wondered why the old 90 did that pulling under load and never thought anything of it (it was like that when I got it and not really bad - the gear knob probably moves about 1/2 inch side to side) but I guess it was because of the springs that were fitted to that vehicle when I bought it. I guess it isn't going to wreck anything in the short term because I had no UJ problems in the 20,000 miles I did in the old 90 while I had it. Also it means I don't have to take all that rubbish off now which is the main thing

[Mark90]

The bottom pin length varies between shocks, inparticular pro comps are quite long. Some you can get a ring spanner on some you can not, also depends on the bushes. The Halfords ratchet spanners aren't much fatter than the standard rings. Take a fair bit of abuse too, sometimes they seem to jam if you put too much torque through them, but winding the other way has always freed them for me. Like the prop tool when they are useful they are bloody useful.

[geoffbeaumont]

Pretty certain Draper do them as well - I've seen them in my local toytoolshop and been quite tempted.

I've an idea VeryDisco said she'd treated herself to a set?

[Turbocharger]

I think I was also using the cheaper ones which are (reversible - never figured that out!) and a lot thicker.

Surely prop vibes won't be related to engine revs though, since the prop is doing different speeds in low/high range, different gears etc?

[BogMonster]

I have Monroe Adventurers on there now

The problem is most noticeable in 3rd low and 1st high because that is where the "wobble speed" coincides with the torque band on a Tdi I think. It is road speed related not engine speed, though once you know it is there you can actually feel it through a fairly wide speed range.

[Les Henson]

Ratchet spanners aren't as strong as their solid counterparts, so be aware that they will slip/break a lot easier. The usual mashed knuckles are the result of this. I had a set and they siezed-up easily with grit etc getting into the mechanism. Using them in a wet/muddy situation is courting trouble in my opinion. Very much a garage shiny tool I think. Cut the nipple off the thread on the shock and use a normal ring spanner (19mm?), sometimes the end actually touches or even presses on the axle case anyway.

Les.

[BogMonster]

That's OK I intend it to be clean underneath when I am changing shockers and it will definitely be in the garage didn't think the mechanism would be that strong just due to its size.

The std front shocks have a 19mm nut on the end but for some reason these Monroes have a 17mm retaining nut on the front (though the back is 19mm).

It's just to have something ratchety to wind the locknut off once it is loose, as there is a restricted range of movement under there and as I'm sure most have experienced it is a fiddly PITA doing it with a ring or open ender especially if the threads are a bit icky - doesn't need much force just the right tool for the job (as the actress said to the archbishop )

[Guest mr_wuffles]

Draper have them on offer at the minute i think the set is £60. I like the draper ones because they've got the flexy ends on them. You can also get stubby ones.

[simonr]

Don't know about these, but the Halfords ones are brilliant (and cheap). The only one I've managed to break was an 8mm spanner - and I was using a long pipe as an extender!

As john says, you have to be careful you don't get it stuck - but it is exactly what I use in this application.

Si

[Guest mr_wuffles]

We use them all the time in work and they do get alot of abuse still never seen one break.

[v8bertha]

I got a corker of a set from Machine Mart... nicely presented in a wooden box with red felt lining... very bling! They have a 0 degree ratchet unlike the Halfrauds ones which are 5 degrees IIRC. Dunno if that means they are any weaker, but then I've always used a normal spanner for doing the final tightening bit.

Have used them to do shockers in the past and it makes life a bucket load easier, provining you remember to take the spanner off before the nut gets too close to the axle. As somebody else has already siad, this depends on the shocks and the bushes that you have.

Edit to add Machine Mart clicky

[jbergholm]

I´ve had my eyes on these beuties for a while. But priced at around £110 I´ll just continue dreaming for a while more.

TengTools