hydraulic coil spring compressor
 

What experience do any of you have with a hydraulic coil spring compressor.
I know we can go with the SIR tool M0070 for $600
Or I can do it the way my brother does in his shop, using a floor jack on the lower control arm, attach external coil spring compressors to compress the spring 1 additional inch, releasing the upper ball joint and lowering the floor jack allowing the LCA to swing out.
I was wondering about using the hydraulic compressor

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47890

I asked the manufacture and he did not see why it would not work on the cars I have. (82 300TD, 88 560SL)

It works much like the Hazet unit as shown in this video

A 6meg video for you dial-up users


http://www.hazet.de/video/VEN13.MPG

Any comments????????

Dave

Wow...that's cool. I think the only uncertainty is the quality of the tool. The spring claws are probably cast not forged. I suppose for DIY work it would probably be fine but I'd keep an eye on the hose and fittings!

Both look interesting. Do you know what the price is on the Hazet unit?

Something about the hydrolic unit bothers me. It doesn't seem as though it would be as stable.

Jeff Pierce

The unit is built by Ranger tools

http://www.bendpak.com/DB-Interfaces/ProductChild/_reports/displayitem.asp?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=31&ProductID=139

Which is a part of BendPak who makes autolifts.

It is a large company which has been around for a while

A neighbor has a 4 post lift by them and the quality is very good. I would not have a problem with the company or their products..


The Hazet unit is about $750

Dave

To remove front springs from W126 you need to compress 8 coils. I don't think open length of 10" is sufficient to do so.

If you look closely at the video, that MB had it's front control arm removed/swung-out from the top in order to have clearance to use the Hazet tool, and to have enough swing in the lower control-arm to clear a compresed spring.

I'm 99% sure that there isn't enough clearance on the W201, W124, W126, W123, and R129's to use either of these tools, and it would mean loosening the front strut and lowering to down via floor jack.

If you do the above, you don't need a spring compressor on a W124, although I heard it's hard to get the front strut back in.

:-) neil

oh oh harbor freight
 

hello,

i've used and still do buy "stuff" from harbor freight. some of it's good some's bad. from a pure mechanical stand point the hazet unit is very substantial and because it uses a threaded "screw" (no doubt hardened) to collapse the spring make a built in mechanical stop. the hf unit looks a little meek but for non commercial apps using only once and a great while will probably do the work. if you know the psi of force you need to collapse the spring compare it to the hf unit (formula is i.d. size of piston x .785 = square inches, time the total psi will give you the total force) if it's hi enough it will probably work. i would however, before i started any work using the hf tool attach a mechanical stop on the springs. the hydraulic unit could (so beware!!) bleed off enough to let the spring lengthen or actually pop open (beware!!)

another option would be to use a mechanical spring collapsing device ... hooks with threaded rod that uses a nut, your wrench and elbow grease to compress the spring. you can probably rent this from the local napa or autozone store.

good luck
craig

Most cheap spring compressors that you buy/rent at auto parts stores (I have a set that works for my other cars) either don't fit between the coils, or they're designed for a larger diameter spring than what's on an MB.

And after further consideration, I don't think the 1500 lb compression capacity of the hydrolic unit would be enough to compress the spring adaquately. Or if it is, then you would always be operating at the tool's maximum capacity -- probably not a good idea. Think about it, when the car is applying 800 lbs to the spring, it's hardly compressed. I don't know the formula for figuring out compression rate, but I know from experience that when you get a spring almost to max compression, it feels like it takes alot more than twice the force to twist the bolts on the spring compressors.

Jeff Pierce