Strut compatability.

[AlanS]

Have a friend with a BX TZi with a badly leaking strut but after trying to pull another strut apart, am convinced it's nigh on impossible to strip a strut without doing a massive amount of damage.
I have however, got access to a good strut on a Trs.
Can anyone advise if the struts are interchangeable as in models and also if left and right hand struts are compatable/interchangeable.
(Don't wanna do like I did on the Xantia HA2 where I swapped both struts onlt to discover they were wrong way round)


Alan S

[jeremy]

Like a surprising number of BX parts they're all the same across the range from 14 to 16 valve - the difference of course being in the sphere.

[DLM]

Alan - I haven't stripped/reconditioned a strut myself, but Tom for one has done it before - as with most things I believe the best results are obtained by using the best possible tools (apologies to grandmothers & eggs for needless tutorial).

I'll probably have a go at one myself later this year with Tom's assistance - I've got no shortage of raw material. The best guide AFAIR was on that Japanese BX site, probably still available via various web archiving services.

[docchevron]

The struts aren't handed and are indeed the same across the whole range.

Rebuilding a strut is easy enough if you have some heat and some massive stilsons..
Nothing too complex in it, but if the strut is THAT far gone then the piston is probably dead and you dont get one in the kit.

If you've got a good working one then it's by far the easiest and quickest solution just to change it!

[ellevie]

DLM, that wonderful Japanese site is still there,
http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~ynar/bxorg_a ... dex-e.html

[Jaba]

I have rebuilt two in the past. The difficult bit is unscrewing the top cap. It is stiff all the way off due to the hard setting sealant cit. used.
I borrowed a cut down front hub from Bob Smith to clamp onto the strut and just hammered it round while holding the other end in a vice.

If you dont polish out the wear grooves on the inner piston it will still be jerky and a bit stiff despite the new seals. Easy job though.

The Japanese site archive of the rebuild can be found here: http://web.archive.org/web/200101100131 ... /m05e.html

[AlanS]

Thanks for the info guys.
We tried to strip one a while back, but in all honesty, it ended up so many different shapes we tossed it and ran a mile. Brother it was bloody tight.
Reason I am going down the replacement track is that we are supplying bits for a Pug mechanic 400 klms away, who sh*ts himself at the thought of Citroen hydraulics, so I'll post it to him and talk him through the r & r operation by phone.


Alan S

[AndersDK]

Please note that the internal bits differ up to approx build year '86.
Its the internal large rubber damper bushing and the end stop bits that are different to such a degree, they can not be mixed with later types.
These struts are however still perfectly interchangeable with the later units.