With the air suspension strut out and on the bench, I now need to remove the expected nut at the top end before I can remove the old air bag. I was expecting a conventional nut, but I'm face with a 50mm diam aluminium cap, painted black, and with an recess for an H14 allen key. My first thought was that this black cap was a decorative bit of plastic over the real nut, but I was surprised to find that it appears to be the nut itself. I've tried to shift it using a powerful 1/2" windy gun, but it didn't shift. Any suggestions about how to remove the cap ?

Old style -14mm allen key and add length with a bar / piece of pipe onto allen key, apply force and then give it sharp bloody hard blow with a lump hammer to break the tension. Just make sure the recess is spotless to stop the allen key slipping out.

Thanks.

I now have a bit more information about the cap. I wish I had taken a look at the other side before posting on the forum. Somebody has obviously been there before me and didn't bother to replace the cap. This is what I found.

Click image to enlarge

As you have the 1/2 inch drive 14mm allen, use that on a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar,500 or 600mm (Quite cheap) then use said lump hammer. Screwfix / toolstation 600mm B/Bar for £20

If you don't want to risk using a lump hammer, I use a Wickes 750gm rubber mallet with fibre glass handle, no damage to cars or tools, a lot of mechanics use similar ones now.

Mind you, I do have enough tools to start a garage business but a man can never have too many tools

Good thread here: https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic47064-15.html Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

Land Rover refer to it a an isolator or damper fitted to vehicles with High Performance Brakes. Helps with resonance under braking.

Thanks. I will see how the car handles before deciding whether or not to buy some replacements.

Just to give an idea of how difficult the damper was to remove, this is one of the tools I tried. Much more effective than whacking the end of an allen key. The force generated by this when hit by a large lump hammer is considerable. Much more than any windy gun I've ever used.


The suggestion to use a breaker bar does not work because any attempt at rotation with a lever is thwarted by the chromed rod in the damper which rotates - with no way of stopping the rotation.

I tried the brute force method as well, I have a impact gun that takes a lorry wheel nut off without a complaint and happily undid the crankshaft bolt on my old TD5.. but wouldn’t budge this, researched the loctite in the LR manual and realised to release it needed heat. Heated it up with some shields to protect everything else and it just spun off by hand  Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

They are around £120 each new and very difficult to find pre owned.

I've been describing this device as made of aluminium. It's not. It is most definitely steel.

I will have to have a word with a mate of mine who runs a CNC lathe. An hour to write and fanuc program (yes, it really is called that) and it would only then take a few minutes to produce each one. Not perhaps with the H14 socket, but I think we all now know that it's not particularly useful anyway. I wonder how much of a demand there is for them. Any thoughts ?