lots of lube on the thread works for me

 

and a mate to grab the shock properly

 

A decent size pipe wrenched worked for me. Made a slight dent in the shock though.

 

Heat the crud out of the nut , blow torch or somthing similar then give it a crack with a spanner and beaker bar , whilst someone's holding the shock with those pink rubber cleaning gloves ( or grippy gloves of some sort .)
Good luck

 

there should be a groove on the top of the shock above the nut. . . uses a 10mm from memory, and you have to use it to start it off. . . . hold with 10mm and twist nut with other spanner. . . . 19mm from memory. ratchet spanners are awesome.

 

some shocks have an allen key indent in the top

 

Yep, its a open ended spanner you will need. took this right now for ya.

 

Plenty of WD40 and a ratcheting ring spanner is generally easiest on the top nut. I used chain style vice grips as required to grip my shocks, not so good if you want to reuse them though.

 

Yep, replaced my shocks yesterday. Had a crap of a time getting some of those nuts off. In the end a Stilson wrench did the trick - has a camming device that grips tighter the harder you push it - you can end up denting the shocks. Had an even harder time getting the new springs in, even with using spring compressors and dropping out the control arm.

So now I have a complete set of front and rear original shocks & springs with less than 10,000km on them. Don't know if they are worth anything? Might try the ebay option.

 

Can you get a rattle gun on it? ie a 90deg one

 

on the flat bit at the top of the thread, get a good quality 8mm spanner then use you other size and pull them opposing ways and bobs your uncle, its worked on both my GQ and my GU.

 

x2. Spray the nut/thread with WD40 etc a day beforehand and let it soak in. Small spanner on the flat on the end of the shaft & a ratchet spanner on the nut.

 

I had a bastard of a time with this a few months back. Ended up cutting through the shaft at the point where the rubber bushes are.

 

Really big set of multi grips and a bit of elbow grease got mine off but dented the shock a bit

 

Iff your doing springs you only need to undo the bottom nut, if your changing the shocks just get a pipe wrench on them or grind it off, There a PITA but as said only have to completely remove if changing them