I ahve done my suspension and many others many times, always using air tools. I no longer have tools and i am putting a set of Tein basic dampners on this week. The problem is i need my stock top hats and i dont know ow to get them off the compresed spring unit? any ideas? vice grips? anything?

 

Put the strut in a vice not facing you and take the bolt of ery slowly it is dangerous but I have done it before I had acces to a shop and it worked without flying across my garage

 

Ot you could just go up to like AutoZone or Checker and rent one of their spring compressors. Its not the best either but its a lot better than trying to use vice grips or a vise for that matter.

 

yeah i gotta go with Vince on this... You could do it the safe way or you could risk loosing a limb or a nose or use of one of your eyes... You make the choise... Most part stores have free rentals...

 

safety is a question of chance...i've installed springs three times, one time even removed from koni yellows on the lowest setting which took 2 of my obese friends to compress the spring for me to get the cap on...

every time, i merely put my foot on the spring to steady it, face the top towards the wall and slowly turn...i haven't ever had anything shoot off at all, just a jolting pop is all it takes.

if you think about it as you slowly unscrew the cap the spring is decompressing mm by mm releasing a lot of the stored up energy needed to send pieces flying.

 

man, theres nothing to worry about, put that **** on the ground, put a bucket in front of the hat/spring and put your foot on the lower part of the strut. SLOWLY unscrew the nut up top until POP! Thats all there is too it! Just where some gloves and some goggles if your concerned about safety ...which you should be...

 

you dont need a spring compressor, just do it on the ground,

if you turn the nut and the actual shock arm is moving, you can use vise grips to clamp the shock arm to keep it from moving,

 

I have a ghetto way for you... Buy a package of wire ties. Take the shock/spring off of the car. Start wire tying the coils together while someone pushes down on the hat. You want to use about 4 or 6 ties per ever 2 coils... in other words, coil 1 attached to coil 2 with about 4,5, or 6 ties (obviously coil 1 becomes 2 since it is a spring, but you get the point). Once you have a lot of ties on there, remove the hat with the entire thing on the ground and with the hat point away from you. 90% of the time the ties hold and the spring comes off compressed. Occasionally they break, and when one breaks, they usually all start breaking and the spring goes shooting.

I vote on getting a compressor, buy I'd be lieing if I said I hadn't done the above and had it work fine.

 

you could get a bucket w/ a towel in the bottom & release the spring into the bucket.