MacGyver spring compressor-Dont try this at home - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

panZZer · #1 08-08-2010, 04:21 PM

I am stripping a car -no engine and tranz in it any longer. First let me say-
Please I am a professional so dont try this at home!
I used to do chevies at the J yard by just jacking up the car by the lower control arm with the weight of the drivetrain weighing back down-loosen the lower ball joint nut almost all the way and smack both sides of the spindle boss with a hammer simutaniously-popping the bj stud loose-no fork required.
With no drivetrain weighing back down I used to do it this way with old chevies removing coil springs or reinstalling them--but some people Do think I have a few screws loose.

sixto · #2 08-08-2010, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by panZZer

Please I am a professional so dont try this at home!

Yes, but a professional what?

Sixto
87 300D

panZZer · #3 08-08-2010, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixto

Yes, but a professional what?

Sixto
87 300D

Professional just means that someone pays the bills doing something-Currently I just pay some bills selling spare parts off cars, but yrs ago I worked for a friend of my family who owned a classic Caddillac JY for a half a yr--it was actually one of the coolest jobs I had.

pawoSD · #4 08-08-2010, 09:08 PM

Doing things the wrong way and having it work out doesn't mean it was safe or that is it the correct way to do something.

layback40 · #5 08-08-2010, 10:40 PM

Dont try this at home !! Should be dont try this at work either !!!

Bones are just as easy to break there as well !!!

Until some one has seen a spring dance around a shed & go through a wall, often they dont realize how much energy is stored in it.

While not wishing to be disrespectful, I would say that doing that must qualify any one for being called stupid or the work of a "Professional Idiot" !!

Best no one try it at work or home.

If any of the guys that work for me tried that, they would be out the door & looking for another job !!!

To moderators; I have tried to be careful to concentrate on the activity in line with the rules for posting.

vstech · #6 08-08-2010, 11:04 PM

chevies have a MUCH shorter and MUCH lower energy srping in them. I've done PLENTY of truck and car chevy spring changes this way.... doing this with an MB is paramount to suicide. the 5/16 or 3/8 chain is as strong as it's weakest link. that's the pin or the bolt in whatever is holding that chain. the 14-16mm coil is a LOT stronger than a chain. and it'll go through your body then the wall of your professional shop.

TnBob · #7 08-09-2010, 01:59 PM

Good to see the cautionary posts here.

Granted it MAY work and work for someone for years... U N T I L ... it doesnt.

When it doesnt work... its gonna be one very, very messy cleanup.

If ya need to pull a spring of that size... take the time and the few bucks it costs to get the proper tools.

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

okyoureabeast · #8 08-09-2010, 02:05 PM

So what happens if the springs let go?

A violent release of energy and a spring of metal going up into the air?

vstech · #9 08-09-2010, 02:08 PM

what happens?
well it all depends on what is in the vicinity.
it could just go pow and bounce around, it could shatter the chain sending shrapnel into any and everything around. it could violently escape the confines of the vehicle and pass grotesquely through your body and keep going until all energy is spent.
it's a 3' tall spring with 16mm wire compressed into approximately 18" space... uh, it's gonna move til it's done!

panZZer · #10 08-09-2010, 03:21 PM

I will not be in the way when it does, and it can fly as far as it wants.

So maybe it should be called the MaCgruber spring compressor.

toddyvol · #11 08-09-2010, 03:33 PM

I need to do my driver side lower control arm bushing. I want to live so I will not use this method.

Hopefully I'll find someone here that will rent me the correct spring compressor.

panZZer · #12 08-09-2010, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by layback40

Dont try this at home !! Should be dont try this at work either !!!

Bones are just as easy to break there as well !!!

Until some one has seen a spring dance around a shed & go through a wall, often they dont realize how much energy is stored in it.

While not wishing to be disrespectful, I would say that doing that must qualify any one for being called stupid or the work of a "Professional Idiot" !!

Best no one try it at work or home.

If any of the guys that work for me tried that, they would be out the door & looking for another job !!!

To moderators; I have tried to be careful to concentrate on the activity in line with the rules for posting.

Obveiously if I were selling my labor to you-I would not include my health in the deal and you would have to provide any tool needed to do any job like this---I have been fired for insisting on this before --and for making an internal complaint about work conditions that shouldn't have been going on.

babymog · #13 08-09-2010, 04:17 PM

How the OP decides to work on his cars is, ... his business IMO.

I changed my daughter's LCA on her car in her gravel drive last month using a floor jack to control the spring, and wood blocks to hold up the car, and never put myself in any danger as the spring was controlled at all times. Wouldn't have normally, but was 700 miles from home. It happens.

panZZer · #14 04-01-2015, 06:27 PM

I was lyeing on top of the hood and had a fork poking in the upper and smacked it loose, the spring sort flopped out on the floor like a trout, so much for all that so called AWESOME stored energy

vstech · #15 04-01-2015, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by panZZer

I was lyeing on top of the hood and had a fork poking in the upper and smacked it loose, the spring sort flopped out on the floor like a trout, so much for all that so called AWESOME stored energy

Um... This is in the car with no drivetrain holding it down? The spring just flopped out? Was it already broken?