Boot Struts

[philipbwfc]

Can anybody tell how to get the ball joint apart on the boot struts of a gen 7 celica please

[edwardio]

I have the boot strut problem, so I know your pain!

I called Mr.T over this. They said that they normally use a hammer & a lump of wood against the psiton at the joint. Well I tried this with no joy, so either it was a fib or the bash the crap out of it!

[philipbwfc]

I have the boot strut problem, so I know your pain!

I called Mr.T over this. They said that they normally use a hammer & a lump of wood against the psiton at the joint. Well I tried this with no joy, so either it was a fib or the bash the crap out of it!

It is a pain I have tried the hammer method first (as I have no finesse) to no avail apart from denting the boot frame. Motorworld told me there is a tool but did not know what it was called

[GT4 BOOSTER]

is it possible to remove the strut still attatched to the securing brackets. i never seen a gen 7 strut before , but from previous cars i have always removed the whole bracket from the bottom with strut attatched , this takes the weight off the ball joint and using a screwdriver pop the strut off - some have metal securing clips wrapped around them which need removing firstly.

[philipbwfc]

is it possible to remove the strut still attatched to the securing brackets. i never seen a gen 7 strut before , but from previous cars i have always removed the whole bracket from the bottom with strut attatched , this takes the weight off the ball joint and using a screwdriver pop the strut off - some have metal securing clips wrapped around them which need removing firstly.

[philipbwfc]

is it possible to remove the strut still attatched to the securing brackets. i never seen a gen 7 strut before , but from previous cars i have always removed the whole bracket from the bottom with strut attatched , this takes the weight off the ball joint and using a screwdriver pop the strut off - some have metal securing clips wrapped around them which need removing firstly.

No it it does not come off like that and you cannot get to the clip cheers for trying to help though

[edwardio]

You can get them re-gassed. I did know of a place, but for the life of me I've forgotten the name. Anyway I looked into using them, but you have to send the struts off to them for about 36 hours.

Anyway there are 2 methods of removing them:

1: From Mr.T - taking a hammer to them, to which we all know doesn't seem to work.

2: Remove the nut connected to the ball joint. The problem with this method, is that you cannot use a spanner as it will just round off at the nut part. You have to use Grips, however this will distory the nut part and therefore will need replacing. (Which this re-gas place said they could do).

So to replace them you have 3 options:

1. Go to Mr.T - cost about £260-£300 (£180 just for the struts!!!!!!!!) We this was about a year ago.

2. Go to an independant Mr.T specialist - cost about the same £250.

3. Use the re-gas place - cost about £60-80 to gas, but a pain to remove. (Mr.T wanted about £60 just to remove them, but an independant wouldn't do it).

It's all a pain. I keep a length of wood in my boot to prop it up if I need to do stuff in it. This is only because I can't be ubikd to pay out around £300 to fix something I can live with for a bit!

If I remember the re-gas place I'll repost the name, though I think I made a thread on it on here somewhere.

[Scarlett Arrow]

Was it RS Components in Corby?

If anyone was thinking of buying an uprated pair from Toyota for £180, I'll post a new pair to you for £80 :)

[edwardio]

I've just done a check and the place I'd checked out was:

SGS Engineering in Derby.

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/gas-struts/automotive.php

[philipbwfc]

I've just done a check and the place I'd checked out was:

SGS Engineering in Derby.

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/gas-struts/automotive.php

I already have a brand new pair of struts thats why I want the old ones off rergassing will not help as the existing struts would still not be strong enough the ball joint has just stripped even though I used mole grips. There must be some kind of pressure applying tool which can open the joint.

[philrosenberg]

I know this is an old post, but I had the same issue and this is on the front page of a google search for how to replace Celica gas struts.

Anyway, I got new struts from sgs, but they don't come with ball joints. I hacksawed the cups in half to get the ball out. It turns out they have a circlip in which holds the ball in - see attached images. I don't think there is any non-destructive way to get them out. I certainly don't imagine a hammer being able to do it.

[Celica Mike]

Cheers Phil

I'm just trying to change my wife's Celica and can't remove the top bolts! I tried the 'hammer method' to separate the bolt from the joint, but it didn't budge - at least I now know why, thanks to you pictures!

I bought a replacement strut pair from SGS on Amazon - £40, with replacement bolts! Very good deal I think.

I will see if the WD40 takes hold in the next day or so and have another go! If all else fails, I may have to resort to cutting through the ball joint, and then gaining access to the actual nut.

Thanks, Mike

[TomdeGuerre]

Just looking at that ball joint with the circlip and wondering whether it could be separated by using one of those ball joint separator tools that look like a tapered tuning fork. Trouble is they're usually made for separating steering joints which are much bigger but surely someone makes a smaller version. Maybe you could use two sharply tapered steel wedges, one from either end,  closing them together with a G clamp failing that see if you can get an oversized carpet tack lifter to force it off!