I can recommend the Irwin bolt remover sockets

[brianw]

I had a the front nearside spring break yesterday.
We got recovered to a friends house and i came over to replace it this morning.
As expected I had a problem with the strut to hub ppinch bolt.
I should say here that the other side spring broke a few years back and i bought a pair. After replacing the broken one i tried to undo the strut pinch bolt on the one i am working on now. The nut started to round off and i ended up with a walldrive socket on and was bending the 750mm breaker bar without any sign of it coming undone.
As the car drove absolutely fine with just the one spring replaced i left it at that.
This morning i saw again just how bad the bolt head was and got a set of the irwins.
All i can say is they do what it says on the tin.
After carefully applying some heat it came undone without slipping at all.
Very impressed.
Just got to do the rest now!
I am currently warming up in the car till it stops raining as i could not see through my glasses!

[Arctic]

HI Brian.
Good luck with the rest hopefully you will got a break in weather, but yes I agree they do what they say, nice tools to have in your box, will we be seeing you at a possible nano meet this year cheers Arctic.

[brianw]

All done now thanks Steve.
Yes it would be great to catch up with everyone again.
Same old thing here, too many things to do and not enough time to do them all.
I have too many hobbies for the spare time available.
My Father in laws 75 is due for MOT by the middle of march so will have to take a look at that and get anything sorted.

[macafee2]

looking on ebay there are two sets
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRWIN-5-Pi...AAAOSwo8hTnxRJ

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRWIN-5-Pc...8AAOSwoQ1TnwzO

I prefer the first one as it has a decent case but will either set fit the pinch bolt?

macafee2

[clf]

Originally Posted by macafee2

looking on ebay there are two sets
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRWIN-5-Pi...AAAOSwo8hTnxRJ

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRWIN-5-Pc...8AAOSwoQ1TnwzO

I prefer the first one as it has a decent case but will either set fit the pinch bolt?

macafee2

Not sure of the size of the pinch bolt nut (15mm?) but the second set you link to, is an expansion set. The first one is the basic set with the most 'common' sizes (however for me, sets like these 'common' ones are never the size I need or want and normally are in the add on or expansion sets lol )

[brianw]

The strut pinch bolt has a 15mm hex head.
I was a bit worried as the kit I got had 14mm and 16mm but no 15mm.
I picked mine up from screwfix for £23.99 as I wanted it pronto after reading on the feedback on thier site that someone had used a 13mm extractor on a 12mm and also another a 16mm on a 15mm.
I can confirm that the 16mm extractor allowed me to flex my 750mm breaker bar without slipping on the 15mm head strut pinch bolt.
I was really impressed!
Just pleased I had a spare pinch bolt in my toolbox and have ordered another to replace it.
I am tempted to get the other kit to add the other sizes.

Just to add that the last two times I have had to remove the strut to hub bolts the head ended up getting so mullered that I had to weld a big nut onto the head to get some purchase.
I certainly wish I had bought a set sooner!