Coil Spring and Shock Absorber disassembly problem, Help, cant get piston rod lock...

[Toahk]

I cannot get the Piston Rod Lock Nut off, it just spins with the shock absorber. How do you get it off? There is a little notch at the top I put a cresent wrench on but it looked like it were stripping it. Any help would be appreciated.

[THX1138]

You should be able to remove the nut by wrapping a rag around the rod and clamping a Vise-Grip pliers on it to provide some resistance against the torque you're applying to the nut.

This is, of course, assuming that the nut isn't cross-threaded on the shaft. Both of the fronts were cross-threaded when I put my new springs and dampers on last fall. One of the nuts stripped the threads as it came off, and the other maintained its kung-fu grip until the rod sheared.