I was watching an off-road TV show where they were changing out the suspension. One of the guys mentioned that he would show the viewers how to remove the spring from the strut without a spring compressor so I stayed tune. This is what he did: jacked the truck up and placed the body on stands. He then placed a jack under the wheel and raised the wheel to compress the springs. Next he LOOSENED the bolt on the damper shaft, and proceeded to unbolt the flange bolt on the damper shaft and flange nuts on the top of the strut. He slowly lowered the jack and the strut/spring assembly came out in two pieces. Since there was no longer any compression on the damper mounting base, he removed the bolt on the damper shaft, separated the strut and spring, put the spring on the new strut, and reversed these steps for re-assembly.

Does anyone see a problem with this? I can’t imagine why this would not work on every car and eliminate the purchase of a spring compressor.

I don’t understand why in different manual they each mention marking the damper case/ mount plate and spring compressor holder of the spring compressor with paint.

 

you can just go to autozone and rent a spring compressor for free (leave a deposit, then you get it back when you return the tool).

 

Harbor Freight, I bought spring compressors for like $7

 

the reason it won't work on at least a 6th gen accord is that the stock spring is still under compression even when the suspension is at full extension. the only way you can release that is then to remove the lower mount. thats gonna be a bitch. once you are there I'm not sure if there is enough room to get everything out - I don't know about that for certain though. I do know you could end up in the position of having a partially disassembled supension that you can't reassemble without a spring compressor and no spring compressor available.

rent/borrow from autozone for free, buy it for $7, get a nicer one for $35 if you're going to need it a few times. Theres no reason to cheap out.

 

get a compressor

 

Thanks, jweller! I always enjoy reading informative replies. I now understand that a compresser is the correct way to go and maybe this trick only works on off-road vehicles with enough clearance.

My other question had to do with the marking of the damper and the compresser. What would happen if the paint marks were out of alignment or if you did not make the marks at all. I'm not completely informed on the internals of a damper construction. Would failure occur if the damper shaft rotated?

 

I've never marked them with paint, but when you reassemble everything, you have to get the top hats aligned with the strut body correctly. otherwise the lower mount will be misaligned with the top mount bolts.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TouringAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you can just go to autozone and rent a spring compressor for free (leave a deposit, then you get it back when you return the tool).</TD></TR></TABLE>

im hella poor, so i never have enough $$ for the deposit. but sometimes if the guy at the counter is really coo he'll let me leave my driver license as colateral.

 

how much is the deposit?

 

Use like 5-6 screw clamps

 

maybe $10-15, but you get it all back anyway. just call your local autozone and ask

 

why try rigging it and risk it popping in your face when you can rent the tool for free or buy one for cheap?

that is just not safe and I wouldn't recommend anyone to try doing it that way.

not only that but the time it would take to use that method would take much longer than just using the correct tool.

 

x2

 

^ agreed.

But in a pinch :D