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Finally made one! Lets hope it works properly

It will work okay by the look, similar to a bodge up i made but unless you use a high tensile fine thread they will suffer under tension, all you can do really is keep the threads really well lubricated and go slow to prevent galling. My threads stripped on second use so plan B was the good old trailer ratchet tie downs but you need to fit a heavy duty through bolt once removed to keep tension while you remove the straps. I have a metric fine 24mm rod that i can use to compress a bare spring to fitting lenght and then strap it, remove the bolt and fit the spring.

Pardon my ignorance but what is it doing???



Jim

spring compressor for up front

Piazza front springs are under huge compression trying to keep the 4 ton front end off the pavement and they are so bloody well enclosed in the towers that normal compressor legs designed for mcPherson struts won't do the job. The factory tool was designed by a group of mensa members and you need to be one to use the damn thing. If you have ever removed a front spring without a compressor of some kind you will remember it by the farkin huge spring shaped dent in your forehead.

wedgenut wrote:Piazza front springs are under huge compression trying to keep the 4 ton front end off the pavement and they are so bloody well enclosed in the towers that normal compressor legs designed for mcPherson struts won't do the job. The factory tool was designed by a group of mensa members and you need to be one to use the damn thing. If you have ever removed a front spring without a compressor of some kind you will remember it by the farkin huge spring shaped dent in your forehead.

OK, I haven't gotten that far into mine yet. Thanks for the insight.




Jim

I don't think i'd be able to make myself go anywhere near a spring held compressed by straps!

It's possible to remove them without the compressor by taking off the radius rods, then undoing the suspension arm bolt and pushing the arm down really far. Spring ends up with a big bend in it but you can lever it out of the lower arm with a tyre lever, just have to have a chain around the crossmember to stop it flying anywhere when it pops out.

Installing it would be impossible without a compressor..

I tried it, works alright with the longer spring, lowered spring should be easier.
It's got a 20x1.5mm thread for the big bolt seems to be holding up fine. Side rods are 1/2 inch.

Damn hooks took ages to make, 25mm steel and I cut them out with a hacksaw

The pair of straps used are official load rated ones (2.5 ton each) not the ones grandad uses for keeping the deck chair on the roof rack and I felt quite happy with them. I did have a couple of loose ones I needed to compress before strapping so I put them in a press with a tether just in case but they went down nice and straight. I had the straps in the 2nd top and bottom coils before I compressed them so it was easy to keep tensioning as they came down.

the last time i was over dad, you were stripping 1 of your many piazzas down , remember the 1 we dragged up the slopping bloody driveway ha ha, and i watched in horror and disbelief when you started strapping up the front springs with the ratchet clamps i thought fark this, time to leave the garage as these things are going into orbit, i had just a few months back lowered the suspension on my car and had the use of a spring clamp compressor that worked off an air tank, brilliant piece of kit made the job easy and rapid instead of using the usual manual screw type compressers so you can understand my fear as i saw you whistling away happy as a clam going good style with the ratchet clamps thinking to myself hes a mad man but!!! i have to say it worked brilliantly just a slight release of the spring as the material stretched, but i have seen it in action and it does work

those spring clamps look good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks all a bit to complicated.


I opt for three of four fat kents sitting on the motor. Tie it up with fencing wire. lol.

Ive got a set of the usual spring compressors im going to have a look and see if i cant make something that will let me use them.

Or i could go the ratchet idea. Im a bit dubios as to how that would even work, till ive seen it i wont make public comment on how safe it isnt.


Im half thinking about doing my spring swap -/slash/- ball joint replacement over this, joyous Australia celebrating itself, long weekend.

(i rekon any Kiwi living in this great country of ours should be made to work on Australia day.)

Bob.

(i rekon any Kiwi living in this great country of ours should be made to work on Australia day.)

Good idea Bob, lets face it they probably don't work on any other day so it wouldn't be big ask! We got a long weekend here as well but funnily enough its nowt to do with australia day

The springs have to be compressed alot I doubt normal spring compressors would be able to do enoguh compressing since it might not have access to enough of the spring.. I wouldn't trust those things either, the hooks always look so flimsy

I've got a set of those standard compressors, they are designed more for struts than wishbone style springs and I find if you jam them in the crack of the garage door it stops it slamming in the wind.

i got some strut spring compressors $50 loaner, 90 day return
basically a free borrowed set

they look similar to that


im doing my upper ball joints in a few days
the lower ball joints look great