Well I am in the process of upgrading and repainting my suspension but my problem now is the top screws that hold the strut cartridge in place. Both of my monkey wrenches arn't big enough to get a good grip on the screw, and I have a 12" wrench. Is there any tips/tools/etc that would make this a lot easier? I have Blaster/WD-40 sitting as of now but what else? It sucks because I "need" to change the cartridges since the struts no longer have pressure in them. Please help. Thanks

Oh yeah, 1 side has a different screw than the other...

 

Use a vice to hold the bottom, it will be a lot easier

 

For the round one I would try using a big pipe wrench. Pipe wrenches (when used properly) are designed to tighten as they slip. This is what I used on mine a couple of months ago when they were stuck tight. Just make sure that you soak them when a good penetrant for a while, before you try and break them loose. For the flat edged one I would either go and get a bigger adjustable wrench, or use the pipe wrench that you used on the round one.

Either way, there's no point in trying to do this job with the wrong tools. You'll only end up frustrated. If you really want to work on your car yourself then you are darn well going to need some tools to do it with. I suggest you either buy/borrow a big adjustable and a pipe wrench. You'll be glad to have them the next time you need them.

 

I'll second that, soak it with PB Blaster and use a pipe wrench and vise. Works great.

 

i'll third that...you need a pipe or monkey wrench and a vice...

 

You could try a chisel to break it free.

 

vise the treaded screw / nut. turn the spindle with the nut in the vise works great and sometimes you need a 2 1/2 inch peice of pvc and a rag on the spindle

 

Vise and pipe wrench did it for mine. I spent a good hour nearly killing myself trying to do it by hand. Went over to a friends place and he had them both cracked open in a couple minutes.

 

mine was stuck so bad I pulled everything out through the top with the upper mount still attatched and broke the cartridge open so it was just the strut piston and the upper mount then I commenced the destruction. One of the mounts was unusable so I scrapped the whole side but i managed to save the other one. If u need new ones or don't want to struggle with it rockauto.com has some cheap and quality replacements from moog. honestly that may be the easier way to go just don't forget to save the old rubber bushings and plate and stuff under the upper mount or just buy new ones.

 

I bought the second largest pipe wrench Home Depot sells. Takes them off every time, pleanty of leverage.

 

Yeah, I ended up getting a vise, but didn't have anywhere to mount it so I had my girlfriend hold it down while I used a pipe wrench. Worked with ease.. my god.

 

I had that very problem last year when rehabbing a 1979 with the original struts. The flush mounted retaining nut with the two notches is factory original. There was a running change made some time after these were originally produced to use the hex retaining nut you have on the other strut tower. There was a special tool used to remove the retaining nut that is specified in the 1979 factory service manual. I had the same problem trying to grab and remove that nut and checked with all 4 Mazda dealers in the Minneapolis area and none had the tool. The tool they used to have decades ago appears to have long since been discarded.

What I ended up doing was buy an oversized socket, I think I used a 30 mm socket. And then used a dremel tool to grind the end of the socket away so that I had two tabs at the end of the socket that fit perfectly into the notches in the retaining nut. With that tool I was able to put the proper torque on the nut to remove without any problem at all.

 

For the round one I used a drift and a hammer to tap it til I could unscrew it by hand. Came out easily. Tap tap tap not whack whack whack.