how to tighten down front shock mount?

today i helped install a kwv2's on my friend's car, everything went well but we had a very hard time tightening down the nut that holds the upper shock mount onto the shaft of the strut. the nut is a 22mm but then i turn it, the shaft hust turns with it and it dosnt get any tighter. theres no way to hold the shaft in place and no way to no way to hold the top still while the socket is on it, no room for any other tool. i'm sure people install mounts to their struts all the time so theres something i am missing. can anyone help!

Originally Posted by BMW_Stu

today i helped install a kwv2's on my friend's car, everything went well but we had a very hard time tightening down the nut that holds the upper shock mount onto the shaft of the strut. the nut is a 22mm but then i turn it, the shaft hust turns with it and it dosnt get any tighter. theres no way to hold the shaft in place and no way to no way to hold the top still while the socket is on it, no room for any other tool. i'm sure people install mounts to their struts all the time so theres something i am missing. can anyone help!

i had the same issue, i used an impact gun, while a friend was pushing the front end down.

Impact gun did it for me as well, I pushed down the upper shock mount and kind of compressed the spring then used an impact gun until it was tight...

how does that keep the shaft from spinning?

It doesn't, its the speed that will get turn the nut faster than the shaft will rotate. I used a towel and some vice grips on the shaft.

...that's what she said!

ah ha! cool thx.

The first time around I took my coil-overs (prior to putting them on the car) to a mechanic and had them do it.

Since then I got one of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-hal...nch-45252.html

Originally Posted by BMW_Stu

ah ha! cool thx.

a much better way is to use a socket that is the correct size to the nut, vise grips to turn the socket and an allen wrench to hold the rob from turning.

haven't done it on an E46 tho, So there is a spot to put in an allen wrench to keep the shaft from turning ?

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

It doesn't, its the speed that will get turn the nut faster than the shaft will rotate. I used a towel and some vice grips on the shaft.

What he did.

too much talk about nuts, shafts, and spinning

good suggestions guys! he ended up going to a shop, they used an airgun and it worked out!

I'm in the middle of my install right now and was wondering the same. I did use my impact wrench, but still wanted to make sure the nut is tightened down all the way. I'll hit it again once I have the car back on the ground. I like the idea of the vise-grip around the 22mm socket and then using the allen key. I mentioned this issue of access to the guys at work and a couple of them mentioned a socket wrench with a hole in the center? I've never seen a socket wrench like this. They said you could slide the allen key through the wrench and then the center of the 22mm socket. Anyone hear of such a wrench?

Originally Posted by York

I'm in the middle of my install right now and was wondering the same. I did use my impact wrench, but still wanted to make sure the nut is tightened down all the way. I'll hit it again once I have the car back on the ground. I like the idea of the vise-grip around the 22mm socket and then using the allen key. I mentioned this issue of access to the guys at work and a couple of them mentioned a socket wrench with a hole in the center? I've never seen a socket wrench like this. They said you could slide the allen key through the wrench and then the center of the 22mm socket. Anyone hear of such a wrench?

Basically you can use a long box wrench so you get the torque needed and put the allen key through the middle, i've never seen a socket wrench that has a hole in the middle.

All done. Just used the 22mm deep socket with vise-grip + allen wrench. I was able to tighten both sides almost one full turn!