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Had one of these pieces of shiz slip off a spring I was manhandling... The spring came free, ricocheted and hit a wood privacy fence 6ft away. Won't be using that tool for that job in the future.
I believe it my idiot friend was unscrewing the top mount of a strut with it pointed at him when the thing came loose the studs on the mount left 3 nice bleeding punctures in his chest.
Man, doing springs already made me nervous as hell, I didn't need more incentive to be careful. Going to look into that Mercedes telescopic compressor though, that looks much safer than the "hook" style. Thanks for posting that!
Few years ago a buddy showed me a (patched) hole in the sheet metal roof of their garage. One of the hooks on their compressor broke, and when the spring let go it shot a chunk of the hook through the roof. No thanks.
this is a very good post as other than poorly jacking up a vehicle and failing to use jack stands while getting underneath it, this has to be one of the other most potentially dangerous tasks and need to think about what you are doing anytime you are servicing the front spring area... fully agree with using the right tool, i also use a plate type as the hook is a recipe for disaster
besides actual spring replacement you need to be careful anytime you are also even changing the strut. just putting a roller jack under the a arm can lead to problems if it slips. i always run a chain around the spring through the a-arm just in case
whenever i am replacing front springs the spring i am taking out i actually just wrap with a chain and then torch cut to take one more operation out
even though i have done so many of these on 3rd gens and other vehicles over the years, this has to be one of my least favorite tasks.
I found a pic on my computer of it with a spring compressed in it. You can see just how well they compress a spring. That spring out of the Mercedes is twice that length you see fully compressed on the ground in this spring compressor.
Also note that those are the small spring cups in the set. The Camaro uses the larger cup which also come in the kit.
Sorry for all the hand-fidgeting in the video. Was trying to find a place to put my hand where I wasn't blocking the view from the camera. Finally had to put my arm in the way of the camera to finish.
Always try to keep the "launch angle" oriented so that if it lets go, your body, and nothing else of value is directly in the way.
I find that the Advance Auto type compressors are good for one spring, maybe two if you're lucky, before the threads get too buggered to compress the spring far enough to install in the spring pocket.
Next time I have to take springs out, I'm going to try the "sandwich method."
Copied from another thread:
Originally Posted by W.E.G.
I've never done the sandwich method. But, I have tried to visualize the method others have described. Here is the the sandwich method as I understand it. Please feel free to correct me if I've incorrectly described it.
The sandwich method (as I understand it) works best if you run a strong ratchet strap from one side of the underside of the body of your floor jack, and then over the K-member, and then back down to the other side of the underside of your floor jack.
Without the ratchet strap, you may end up lifting the whole front of the car off your jack stands using the sandwich method.
You will need to take up the slack on the ratchet strap as you pump the floor jack. This better be the best ratchet strap you can afford, because I think this method is asking a lot of the ratchet strap.
I stole an image from another member's post to use as a reference. I added the thick red line on the right. The thick red line is the path I believe the ratchet strap must take when using the sandwich method.
Remember, the sandwich method is using the force of gravity (weight of the car), and the force of a ratchet strap to compress the spring while the front of your car is balanced on jack stands. My biggest concern about the sandwich method is the dance you will have to do with the floor jack under the control arm in order to simultaneously position the control-arm bushings to line up with the mounting points on the body while also using the floor jack to compress (sandwich) the spring.
I almost think you would be best served if you use TWO floor jacks. One to do the heavy lifting of compressing ("sandwiching") the control arm against the spring, and serving as a tie-down point for the ratchet strap. Then, use the second floor jack to finesse the bushing-ends of the control arms into the exact location to allow you to get the control arm pivot bolts installed.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the parts and concepts here, what you are looking at in the pic is the part known as the "K-Member." This is the view of a stripped K-member, viewing from above the car. As if you were, standing on the dash, looking into the engine bay, with the hood removed. Your engine bolts to the K-member by way of two motor mounts. If you look carefully, just to the the left of the red line, you can see the outline of where one of the motor mounts was present before the K-member was stripped. On the opposite side, you can actually see the motor-mount outline a little bit better. The motor mount is actually your friend in the sandwich method, as the motor mount will limit how far your ratchet strap can creep out of position while the strap is being tightened. The spring has to be sandwiched under the circular "bumps" you see on each side of the K-member.
The easy way around this is to not use spring compressor. They aren't required to R&R springs on a third gen let alone other cars.
A spring in a compressor is nothing more then a hand grenade with the pin pulled. Just don't do it. I've outlined two methods to do a spring R&R here on TGO already. Without a spring compressor.
I’m not remembering why I needed to compress mine putting them back in. They didn’t need to be compressed taking them out. They just fell out as I lowered the A-arm with a jack underneath.
RBob, will you post the links to your threads here please? Thanks!!
The easy way around this is to not use spring compressor. They aren't required to R&R springs on a third gen let alone other cars.
A spring in a compressor is nothing more then a hand grenade with the pin pulled. Just don't do it. I've outlined two methods to do a spring R&R here on TGO already. Without a spring compressor.
RBob.
Quite a bold statement., SO I'll make one. You will NEVER get a Mercedes spring out or back in the pocket without a spring compressor. not even by trying to um-bolt the a-arms. Way too much energy. You should be cautious what you tell people.
Reason I reference Mercedes and this Mercedes style compressor is it doesn't get harder than them.
My only experience has been with full-size, factory-length springs.
I getting the scent that the "lowered" (shorter or weaker???) springs may be quite a bit easier to get in and out.
"Lowering" my suspension is not on my deliberate agenda. But, if somebody could convince me that life (or the chances of continuing living) is better with a lowered suspension, I might reconsider.
I'd really like to see a video of somebody installing with the sandwich method. That being the ratchet strap around the jack and the K-member while the wizard guides the two A-arm bushings into the K-member slots with sufficient accuracy to install the two bushing-bolts. I know it has been done. Just can't find any videos of it.
You can see from my spring-compressor-adventure videos, it took about two hours to compress, and install the driver-side spring. Granted, I'm an inexperience amateur at this. Going very slow. Trying not to kill myself or destroy anything. Learning along the way. Next time, I really want to try the sandwich method. Even if it means buying a second Harbor Freight jack. As it stands, I had to buy two spring compressors (about $35 each IIRC) to do my front springs. And those compressors are both toast now.
Speaking of guiding the A-arm bushings into the K-member slots using the sandwich method.
It has occurred to me that one way to "wizard" those bushings into place, while jacking against the bottom of the A-arm would be to use some sort of baling-wire to loop through the holes in the K-member and the A-arms.
You would then take up the slack in the wire as the sandwich comes together.
So, how to take up the slack in the wire, and cinch the bushings into correct location while the spring is being compressed with the jack?
Quite a bold statement., SO I'll make one. You will NEVER get a Mercedes spring out or back in the pocket without a spring compressor. not even by trying to um-bolt the a-arms. Way too much energy. You should be cautious what you tell people.
Reason I reference Mercedes and this Mercedes style compressor is it doesn't get harder than them.
Checking the URL, hmm, thirdgen.org. Was wondering if I was on the wrong board.
Checking the URL, hmm, thirdgen.org. Was wondering if I was on the wrong board.
RBob.
Thats the problem with the lack of moderator supervision on this board.
First you give out dangerous info telling people to drop jack an A-arm up into place and trying line and secure not only two A-arm ears under load, but also with upward tension of a spring on a chassis sitting on jackstands and try to manipulate it into place and then have to also tie the 3rd critical link (the ball joint) into position without it taking you head off.
I show a better method many here do not know because it was designed by Mercedes Benz but has been universally sold as a GM tool as well because of its safety record.
This works the same way on a 3rd gen Camaro or Firebird using the same kit with the larger disc plates in the kit.
Sorry, Rob. It is far more safe method. You GM sandwich method you claim is used by GM techs does not include the use of their specialty Arm carraige that last anyone checked was only made for Gm service techs.
03-09-2018, 10:57 AM
