Getting nut off of rear shocks

[loot87]

I'm struggling to get the top nut off of the rear shocks on my 91 Turbo.
I've tried two vice grips on the shaft and Mapp gas and I still can't get it to budge without the shaft turning in the vice grips. Should I just cut the nut off with a Dremmel?

Also, my dust boots have disintegrated and Bilstein doesn't supply new ones with the shocks (WTF??). Should I just get stock replacements from Sunset or Pelican?

[JTL]

Those bolts are pretty tight. My air impact didn't even get it loose. The best thing to use is a 4 ft breaker bar on a ratchet. It doesn't take much to loosen the bolts with that setup.

jt
-84 targa

[loot87]

Yeah, that would be great if I could find something that could keep the shaft from turning, too. Two vice grips aren't cutting it.

[JTL]

Oops - I skipped over the first line of your post; thought we were talking about the bottom bolts.
For the top nut: I used a crescent wrench at the top of the shaft to hold it in place. The shaft should have 2 flat sides at the very top. While holding the shaft in place take an open end wrench and loosen the nut.

jt

[Superman]

The shaft has a female hex socket at the top. Drop an Allen wrench in there, and that should steady the shaft. Those nuts should not be THAT tight.

JW strongly suggested I use a ratcheting closed-end wrench for this, and he was right. 18mm? Something like that. Anyway, it's a nut that's got a collar on it, so it does not spin freely. It will need to be turned every revolution. Many revolutions. In a tight space. This is an excellent time to invest in a set of stubby ratcheting wrenches.

[loot87]

The front shocks have the female hex socket, not the rears.
I'll try the crescent wrench trick.

[jhelgesen]

I use a $20 air powered ratchet and deep socket from Harbor Freight. Put a little side tension on it to keep the shock shaft from spinning in the bushing.