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The only good way to do it is with an impact wrench. You can try with vice grip and towel, but you are nearly guaranteed to screw up the shaft and not get a proper seal.
You can also cut most of the rubber bushing apart which will give you access to both the nut and the square part of the shaft. Then put a wrench on both to remove. However an impact wrench will be needed to put them back together.
Truly good advice, certainly when torque specs are critical and you run a good risk breaking whatever you are working on.
However, unless you've got a fantastic tool set in the garage one has to improvise. I do not have such a tool set that would allow me to grip that shaft while also applying any sort of torque on that nut.
Threaded the nut hand-tight on the otherwise-free-spinning shaft, then used the impact wrench to tighten it with a few short bursts. There is no potential for breaking a stud or bolt since you are relying on angular momentum to tighten against. The shaft starts turning before snapping.
Visit a local professional car parts supplier ( not the Autozone sort, more like NAPA.) And take the shock with you. There is a specific tool used to work with a shock with the flatted end shaft. It is partly a socket that fits that somewhat oval shaft precisely. Trying to do it with an open-end or adjustable wrench is almost certain to booger (tech term) it up..
Sometimes DIY requires spending money on the right tool.
Using the correct size open wrench hold the stut rod as a counter and turn the nut.
There isn't room to get an open ended wrench in there.
I am all about buying the right tool for DIY. I think I have a friend with an impact wrench. If not i will see what NAPA has as this doesn't seem like a torque critical application.
Did you have symptoms of this upper rubber mount failing?
I have a knocking sound when I'm on top of speed-bumps and car goes down again. The knock sound comes when the suspension is "falling down" after the bump. All bushings are OK, as it passed my country's "MOT". I suspect something with the air-springs.
AND please take picture of your repair of the air-springs, post them in your thread here :-)
The nut is 22 mm ATF, so in some cases you can use an oxygen sensor socket while counterholding the rod with a 10 mm. wrench, I believe. With the recess on this Cayenne part, I am not sure that will work well enough to get things torqued to spec, though.
Did you have symptoms of this upper rubber mount failing?
I had a clunk over bumps - mostly from the passenger side.
I am replacing all front control arms, tie-rods, end links and sway bar bushings so it will be hard to tell exactly what fixed the clunks (haven't buttoned it all up yet).
However, the passenger side shock mount was in 3 pieces (see picture below). The driver side showed only minor wear.
Other than a lot of horizontal movement in my upper control arm bushings no bushings showed signs failure - just some wear/slight cracks/dryness - so there is a good chance the shock mount was a primary cause of the noise.
I also replaced the o-ring under the upper shock mounting plate and lubricated with dielectric silicon grease. The area is under pressure as you will hear air escaping when you loosen the 4 bolts holding it to the shock.
The o-ring is p/n N-910-956-01
I can post a more thorough overview of the shock mount replacement if desired.
02-06-2016, 07:53 PM
How to remove front air shock rod nut?
