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Rebound stopper strap replacement: Right side

The replacement of the rebound stopper straps in rear suspension was started.
Those were already degraded since I purchased in 1986.  In the past I asked shop to replace them at the timing of the regular inspection, but shop owner hesitated to replace the straps saying “the replacement of the old rebound straps is difficult”.  Then, I thought I should do it by myself in future and ordered the new straps.



I started from the removal of the small bolts connecting the strap, but 2 bolts out of 4 were broken immediately. ☺︎
It was no problem because I thought all the bolts and screws had to be replaced with new ones anyway.



These were the thick screws that seemed to be very stubborn.  I guessed it was fixed with rust and mud and very difficult to be removed.
At first I tried with the rust penetration lubricant and the impact driver.








This impact driver was vintage one and it was given from my father when I was a student.
Several times I tried to loosen the screw with the impact driver, but the screw could not be loosened.  It seemed to be very tough, so I thought I should try in other way.

One alternative was to give up for the moment.  But I thought if I could remove the part of the strap that was tightened by the screw between the bracket and the body, probably the situation could be better.  So, I tried to destroy it with drill and screwdriver in order to make some space to reach to the screw itself.  Then, in the worst case I could cut the screw and remove it using the broken stud extractor tool.



Successfully the strap between the bracket and the body could be removed almost.  Now I understood that the strap was sandwiched by the strap bracket with rounded edges and the alloy block.



The thread part of the screw was upper part on body side.  It wasn’t effective if the rust penetration lubricant was sprayed from the screw head.  And the rusted screw was sandwiched and fixed by the hardened strap and rusted bracket.  In this condition I supposed the screw would be never loosened. 





Now I could spray the rust penetration lubricant to the thread part.  I shocked the screw with the impact driver and grabbed it with the vise-grip to turn.  Then, finally the screw could be loosened!!!



The removed screw was heavily rusted.  It was lucky that the rust didn’t reach to the thread part.



But I couldn’t understand why the screw with plus head was used here instead of the bolt.  I thought the bolt would be better in terms of the maintenance because the bolt would be more capable for the higher torque.  I would replace it with bolt with same length and thread pitch. 
The other screw could be also removed in the same way, and one set of the rebound stopper strap was disassembled.





The work on this day was over.  To remove the rebound stopper strap was tough work.







Lots of rust and dust were remained on the floor after today’s work. ☺︎



(My original blog was written on 6th Dec. 2008)
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