e34 strut housing collar tool?

[saluki540i]

Any of you guys happen to know where I can get the correct tool for tightening the strut retaining collars on my 540i. I'd called around to many of the vendors. Worst case, I may borrow one from the original mechanic at Anderson BMW who maintained the car when my dad owned it, and I'd really like to avoid the pipewrench if at all possible. The new collars are so pretty even if you can't see them. With the front end all but completely rebuilt I am hoping to keep it clean enough to eat off of... Dropping the rear subframe out is next - over the winter.

[632 Regal]

difft shocks have difft collar nuts

[yaofeng]

A pair of 12 inch wide jaw adjustable wrench work just fine. You can get them at any auto parts store.

[fkong777]

yes a pipe wrench should work fine.

[kick7ca]

No a pipe wrench is not fine! You are right to seek the correct tool.
The strut collar nut has a very high torque rating which cannot be reliably achieved with pipe wrenches.

My front right blew after 2 months which also in turn destroyed 2 ball joints.
When I took it apart the strut collar nut was totally loose. Last a time a ghetto indy worked on my car.

I re-did the job myself, but took the strut housing to the dealer, where they properly pressed both shocks and charged me $40. I say you should do the same and sleep well.

[winfred]

a pipe wrench or a big pair of "water pump" pliers does the job well, you can get it as tight as you can then install the strut on the car then apply some additional ass to it now that it's secured to something if you don't have a decent bench vise to hold the strut housing, be advised it's not hard to strip the threads on the strut housing at which point you are screwed, and you can also break the stamped nut part off of the threaded part of the collar, this is not a problem you just remove the broken off part (so it's not in there making noise) and tighten the collar by gripping it directly