changing springs w/out spring compressor

[dope96clipse]

ok i have changed my rear springs today without the compressor cause the springs were so damn small they werent compressed, an im werkin on the front now, and i shot the springs off cause they werent compressed that much ne ways, well now im putting bigger neuspeed springs is and i cant get the spring to compress enough to get the nut on, i just need it a lil more then what i can get it to pushing down on the spring, so has any one ever done this with out a compressor? if so plz let me know so i dont have to go buy a compressor that i will never use again thanks, doug

 

[Mitchel63]

Dude....Craftsman spring compressors cost like 40 bucks.....suck it up and use the right tool for the job.

 

[Mike1992]

Or rent one from the local parts store

 

[Toshiro]

Yeah, don't shoot a spring through your kidney because you didn't want to rent one from Kragen or Autozone.

 

[purplehazetsi]

man i wish people would use the SEARCH function. rent a spring compressor, and get it done with.

 

[Defiant]

Or borrow one from AutoZone for free.

 

[Laser-man]

i did it withought one, all i did was assemble everything where it was suposed to go and jacked the lower controll arm up till i could get the nut on, the i relized that you got the 40 bucks back when you rent the spring compressor. so go rent one it would make shit alot easyer i experenced the hard way. good luck

 

[dsm1kenobe]

Originally posted by Laser-man
i did it withought one, all i did was assemble everything where it was suposed to go and and jacked the lower controll arm up up till i could get the nut on , the i relized that you got the 40 bucks back when you rent the spring compressor. so go rent one it would make shit alot easyer i experenced the hard way. good luck

That's the way to do it without a spring compressor. Do yourself a favor, be safe and go rent a spring compressor.

 

[cbellsondsm]

i did mine with 5 worm gear hoseclamps, at liek 12 at night with nothing open, youll try anything....dont recomend doin that again, went great but was scary as hell

 

[jtmcinder]

I just got this note from the mother of "dope96clipse"; she asked me to forward it to the board.

- Jtoby

Dear Tooners -

My son, Douglas, wishes to thank everyone for the lovely cards and letters. He is feeling much better, although he won't be released for another few days. Luckily, the spring didn't penetrate as far as we first feared and G*d did, in His infinite wisdom, give each of us two lungs, even if two livers might also have helped in Doug's case. Oh, and two spleens, as well. Not that anyone at the hospital can explain very well what a spleen is actually for. I always thought that it was a bad thing, like an appendix, what with all those sayings like "venting spleen" and such, but Dr. Vinneda insists that it does something important and that Doug will be taking some sort of dietary supplement from now on. I sure do hope that the pills don't make him swell up like one of those baseball players that you keep reading about these days. Or get a funny voice. That Jose Canseco just never seemed to be a man after he started with the pills and began to look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy and sound like Minnie Mouse. Not that my Douggie would need such pills, being all big and strong naturally. Of course, if he wasn't so strong, then he might not have tried to work on his car without the proper tools, but I really shouldn't say that, given that you all are his friends and he'd not want to seem uncool. Anyways, thanks again for the cards. I'm sure he'll be back on his computer in no time.

 

[96TSi_Chris]

^^^ haha i think what he is trying to say is go rent a damn compressor.

 

[Defiant]

Why do you think they call him dope?

 

[Splitpi]

To revive an old thread....

Which compressor would work best for a 2g?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3980

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiB...NONE|~NONE|~NONE|~3+MO|~5.7|~EA|~B|~GRN|~true

 

[RamenPride]

To revive an old thread....

Which compressor would work best for a 2g?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3980

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiB...NONE|~NONE|~NONE|~3+MO|~5.7|~EA|~B|~GRN|~true

it looks like choice #2 goes inside the spring, so you want #1

 

[FORMONTOYA]

I'll second that....#1, plus you can use it on various size springs, where #2 looks to only fit certain size springs.

 

[wret]

I have #1. It works fine. #2 may work also but $11.99 w/ lifetime waranteed vs. $50 w/ 3 mo. warantee? Not much of a decision.

 

[Splitpi]

Thanks for the input everyone. The reason I am asking is that I bought Tokico HP shocks setup because my passanger front stock shock was leaking (w/ 60k miles). I had a shop install the shocks because I didn't have time to do it. Anyways, yesterday I was working on my car and installing a SS clutchline and putting my winter tires on when I noticed that the Passanger front shock was leaking again. The shock was purchased and installed about 4-5 months ago with less than 5k miles on it. I have been noticing rattling and thumping sounds coming from the passanger side when going over small bumps in the road. I thought it was just my bushings... but now that I noticed fluid on the shock/spring and control arm I think it is the shock piston banging around in the shock without fluid. Bushings could still be an issue.

My question is this, what can cause two shocks to go bad shortly? Bad bushings? Over extending spring (The Tokico HP is mounted on stock spring)?

I bought a prothane shock bushing kit which I will install on the new shock and replace on the driver side aswell. And am considering replacing the entire front bushing setup aswell... since 1/4 of the work is done getting to the shock anyways.

 

[jtmcinder]

I bought a prothane shock bushing kit which I will install on the new shock and replace on the driver side as well.

Stiffer bushings accelerate shock wear. You want bushings with very little off-axis stiffness on a 2G, due to the weird angle changes during bump (which are due to the funky twin lower balljoints). To be kind to shocks, use OE rubber bushings or spherical bushings and avoid anything in between.

- Jtoby

 

[Splitpi]

thanks for the advice JTM... but I think we are talking about different shock bushings (though I will heed your advice for the suspension bushings ... RRE recommends similarly as you with using stock bushing for the lower control arm bushings).

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/parts/prothane/front_suspension.jpg
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/parts/prothane/front_suspension_lower_arm_assembly.jpg

The bushings I am talking about are:
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/parts/prothane/upper_shock_mount_bushing.jpg
Which will replace 3 and 7 i believe in the attached picture. But I should also order a new #5 now that I think about it as mine seems quite deteriorated (flakes with rubbing with finger) after 9 years of exposure. Also got a new mitsu #9 bump stop.

So just to be sure we are talking about different bushings and you are talking about the suspension bushings and not the shock bushings?

 

[jtmcinder]

No, I mean those, too, which does make me even more conservative than RRE. We all agree that lower shock bushings are out (and one of the aftermarket companies has even stopped selling them). I'm going one step further in saying that the uppers should also be avoided. Again, RRE and I agree that the little black rocks that GC includes with their plates are evil, but I'm even suggesting that ES uppers should also be avoided. Get RRE sphericals or leave the uppers stock.

Here's another way to look at it. If you have really good shocks, coaxial hats, Torringtons, etc, then the small amount of vertical slop that the rubber bushings allow will lower your grip. But if you don't have such a system, then a little slop in the shock's shaft isn't really an issue, so why risk damaging the shock with off-axis force?

Konis are great OTS shocks, but they are very skinny for a twin-tube. This means that they aren't go great when shock travel is small. So the little rubber bushings aren't really holding you back.

- Jtoby

 

[Splitpi]

thanks for the input Cinder... any ideas as to how two shocks on the passanger side can leak in less than 5k miles? I'm not racing the car and all bushings are stock. Loose or missaligned suspension allowing odd shock movement? Or spring over extending the shock? As I said before it is all stock including the spring.

Just seems odd and I don't want to go through a third shock once I replace my "new" leaking shock.