So, I discovered Sheldon's front driver spring was broken awhile back, so (with the help of ChuckS) I sourced a set of OE springs, all four wheels. I've got the struts off on the front wheels and got the old springs out, no problems there...but now I can't figure out how to compress the OE springs (which are about 3/4" longer than whatever aftermarket springs came out) enough to get the the top hats back on. I got a set of strut compressor clamps (clamp on the outsides of the springs) from AutoZone and they work fine to compress the spring...but they also don't leave enough room for the strut to slide between them. I need about 1/2" more clearance.

Any suggestions?

 

Compress the strut then?

 

I can usually push oem top hats down by hand to get the nut started. Little tough, small bit of assist from a friend will do it. No spring compressor needed.

 

X2, get someone to help put some weight down on the top hats.

 

Okay, so this begs the question...do various models have different length struts??? Because "having someone help push down on the spring" was the absolute first thing I attempted. Then I let her hold the nut while *I* pushed down...eventually ending up with me basically putting the majority of my 190lbs into the equation. There was 0.0% chance we were gonna get that spring compressed enough to thread that nut.

These springs come from a different model year than my car. They were chosen because the collective claims they're the most comfortable model year, basically.

I could build something like a manual tire bead breaker, that might allow me to crank enough force into that spring to get it to compress to the point where I could get the nut on, but I can assure you, it's not going on by any non-scientific application of force at this stage.

 

On a different car years ago I had the same issue. I used the spring compressors to compress the spring then tied a rope around the coils of the spring. After taking the spring compressors off you will have enough clearance to put the top hat on. Then just cut the rope and remove. Ideally you should not tie the rope on the very top or bottom coils of the spring so you can easily remove the rope. Wrap the rope multiple times around the coils to minimize rope stretch. BE VERY CAREFUL when doing this! If that rope breaks or slips unexpectedly serious injury can occur.

 

This sounds like it has possibilities. For both success and dismemberment, but either way it'll end the suspense. Thanks for the suggestion.

I will attempt soonly and report back.

 

Woa. Scary. HF also sells a more beefy strut compressor. A scissors type thing, that grabs the outside of the coils. One long bolt equally tightens both sides at the same time.

Considerably more expensive than the kind where its two pieces, a pair of long bolt with hooks at each end. But way less expensive than dismemberment...

Sent from my SM-G920P using IB AutoGroup

 

While it's sub-optimal, I don't see a lot of options here. The strut takes up most of the space inside the spring; there's not enough left over for the clamps that the spring compressor uses to grab the spring. The HF version, while considerably beefier, ultimately uses the same type of clamp to go over the spring, so I don't see how that would help.

 

Shame the spring is broken. You may be able to take the tension off the spring by installing the shock in the car.

Put the car up on jack stands, jack up the wheel in question, and remove the bolt for the shock piston to the top hat, then slowly lower the jack from the wheel. Leave the top hat bolted to the chassis.