head bolts, axle shaft bolts, and some others. most are 12mm and 8mm though. the 4 piece set I got has served me well so far.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

hi
I discovered this type for the first time when doing the diff on my 230TE, they are called 'spline' or 'ZXN' heads over here - pretty standard on brake calipers and such on European cars.
I've heard factories like to use them on things they don't want DIY'ers to mess about with, as we won't have the tools to undo them, and so won't be able mess with things too complicated for us....
Easy enough to find at your favourite 'oooh shiny!' shop (tool merchant)...once you know what to ask for!

cheers!

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cheers!!

Good info, I have the 12mm because I've pulled a few heads but didn't know I was using a "tripple square" Think I'll wait and see if I need one for my hatch strut job.

Hard to make something "DIYer" proof

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Just tried to replace my hatch struts. The passenger side one is already stripped. The previous owner must have stripped it. I just tried the driver's side since I'm pretty sure 1 new strut will hold the hatch up and I stripped that one!#%!$#%

Yes I used the 8mm triple square bit. I guess I'm gonna have to get use to the hatch slamming me on the head.

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1984 300td euro turbo

The same thing just happened to me. I even tried the impact driver (the kind that you hit with the hammer) with the triple square bit and couldn't get either side to budge. dont want too burn up the headliner heating it so its back to keeping the hatch open with a stick I guess drilling might be an option.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Phew! I did mine this weekend, thought I had stripped the first one but pounded the bit in and got it out! Thanks for all the tips.

My 83TD had #8 Triple Square, a set is only $5 at O'reilly's right now. One tip is you might have to lever the strut up when putting the triple square bolt back in. I didn't have to do this on the passenger side, went in right away, took me a minute to figure out the drivers side.

Quite amazing how fast that tailgate flies up now.

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1983 300TD - 202k with 5 speed Getrag conversion

I live in NJ and went to Advanced Auto, Pep Boys, Napa, Sears Hardware and Lowe's and none of them had the triple-square bits. PepBoys had something that LOOKED like a triple square, but the points were not at a 90 degree angle, so they didn't grip onto the bolt.

I've resorted to looking on Amazon and if you look for 'spline drive' you'll find an assortment available. You can get the one piece ($5) or a set ($26 with free shipping).