Konis used to come with a palnut just like that. If it makes you feel any
better, the cylinder base hold-down nuts on my Comtinental aircraft engine
are locked down with the same stamped pal-nuts. The FAA likes them OK, and
I've never seen one fall off.
There is a socket tool that has a small socket for the top of the shock rod
and a larger one for the nuts (I think they come with several outer
sockets). Try a good auto parts store. They're not cheap, but they work.
If you don't want the shocks, of course, there's the old Vise-Grip trick,
(and you may be able to grab above where the seal slides) but the piston rod
is HARD and this is definitely a last resort. There's splitting the nut,
too. Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt !! Be careful, and chase the
threads off when you're done, and you can reuse the shock.
- Karl Vacek
----- Original Message -----
From: maineac <maineac@netquarters.net>
To: Triumphs List <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 1999 2:10 PM
Subject: I' shocked... SHOCKED I tell you...
>
> Just a quick question -- how can you tell if the rear shocks on a TR6 are
> going (or gone)? I took mine off today and they feel really firm when I
> move the lever up and down. I don't know what the PO did (or didn't do),
> but I've been tooling around with it for abut 5 years now, and the shock
> links are kaput, and I suspect that there hasn't been much done to the
> shocks either, but I an quite surprised to find them so "stiff". Is there
> some test that shows worn or weak shocks that a backyard mechanic can do?
> I don't want to enrich Apple Hyd. if I don't have to.
>
> I have a hard time sorting out whether I bought this car from a PO or a
> DPO. I think the front shocks are Konis (the paint on them is the right
> color of red/orange), so I start to think htat maybe the guy wasn't a
total
> numbie, but then I go to remove the top nut on the shock and I find that
he
> used one of those stamped sheet metal nuts that are for holding lamp
> sockets together for a jam-nut! So what's with that? Oh yeah, if anyone
> has a secret method of removing the top nut on the shock (the entire "rod"
> keeps turning, and the nut is really tight), please share it. Did you
know
> that rust is the poor man's locktite?
>
> Tom Walling
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