Coil spring compressor

65intex · May 15, 2007

fasttback said:
Almost true, I think I had compress a little to get the springs in a 1966 and 1967. After cutting 1/2 to 3/4 coil, they slid right in after the method you mentioned.

Hey fasttback you got any pics of your car after you cut the coils that much?

65intex · May 21, 2007

fasttback said:
Almost true, I think I had compress a little to get the springs in a 1966 and 1967. After cutting 1/2 to 3/4 coil, they slid right in after the method you mentioned.

The 620's did slide in after cutting about a 1/3 to 1/2 of the coil off but now the spring comes unseated when I jack the front end of the car up. Is there any way to keep the springs seated or will I just have to reset the springs every time the front end comes up?

CraigMBA · May 21, 2007

Add a 1/2" spacer between the shock and the shock mount. Manditory with the Koni shocks to keep them from bottoming out.

Skymarshal · May 21, 2007

Definitely use a chain as a backup! It's not unheard of for spring compressors to fail. Especially the cheap ones. Looping a chain through the spring and around a control arm is cheap insurance to keep the spring from coming out at you if anything slips or breaks.

65intex said:
The 620's did slide in after cutting about a 1/3 to 1/2 of the coil off but now the spring comes unseated when I jack the front end of the car up. Is there any way to keep the springs seated or will I just have to reset the springs every time the front end comes up?

Never cut or weld on a spring!

Springs are designed to work as a complete unit, and the ends are a different shape for a reason- it distributes the forces around the whole circumference of the spring seat.
And when you cut or weld a spring, the heat destroys the temper in that part of the spring, turning it from spring steel back into regular steel. Springs that have been subjected to high heat will crack and fail shortly after being put back in service.

DJCarbine · May 21, 2007

I rented the internal spring compressor from autozone, and used a bit of pipe as a hueg washer to get the amount of compression I needed. Perfectly safe if yout ake your time and pay attention to the spring as you compress it.

If you are prone to injury, I would suggest a football helmet, mouth guard, full body armor, and a pistol. You can never be too safe.

65fastbackresto · May 21, 2007

I have been a little accident prone

In my life, but my buddy helping me is pretty good mechanic.

DJCarbine · May 21, 2007

You should be fine then. The hardest part for me was lining up the internal compressor so that it compressed the springs evenly, as one arm is longer than the other. Other than that, have fun turning the screw a million times to get the dang thing to compress

CraigMBA · May 21, 2007

After you get the compressor centered, use an impact gun to compress it.

If the shaft isn't parallel with the spring, you have it misaligned. Sometimes the shaft will be dead center, sometimes it won't.

65fastbackresto · May 21, 2007

DJ Carbine

What is a scarebird disk conversion?

DJCarbine · May 21, 2007

Scarebird front disc conversion bracket is sold on http://www.scarebird.com/

I am using the bracket with S10 calipers and 67 rotors, with a maverick dual cylinder MC. I have a writeup on them in the forums, do a search. 10k + miles on my daily driver 66, and they work great.

On a side note, I was told never to use an impact gun on the compressors as they have a chance of jarring the compressor out of the spring. I suppose that just being paranoid though

65fastbackresto · May 21, 2007

Impact, never thought of that

glad you said that....I`d have prob tried it. I was gonna try and use a air ratchet on the spring compressor, dont know if it`ll work though.

I was told to put preload the suspension, put the compressor in, then let the tire hang, taking care of most of the spring compressing for me. That sound right to you?

DJCarbine · May 21, 2007

I did mine with the tire off the ground and removed already, I honestly don't see how you can do it with the tire on the car, drop the compressor in, jack the car up and finish it.....

It sounds like a good idea to save some time and sweat, but in the end I just did it the tried and true way. Its also easier to make sure the compressor is fully seated on there with the tire off and car jacked up.

I don't even know if its possible to do it the way you just said

Jester67 · May 21, 2007

yah just put a jack under the LCA and jack it up it will save you some work.

Coil spring compressor

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