560SL Spring Compressor - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Strife · #1 09-14-2006, 02:13 AM

After buying a Klann clone spring compressor, taking a look at it on my car, and THEN reading the following thread:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=123959&highlight=107+spring+compressor

I determined that it is indeed true that you can't use this tool to compress a 107 spring (although some ads for it claim that you can). In a nutshell, there is no good access in this car through the top spring mount and the lower control arm access hole isn't large enough in diameter (apparently, some people have actually enlarged this hole enough to fit the tool through, but I really don't think this is a great idea).

I would like to remove the springs for two reasons:

1. Lower ball joint replacement (at least the tool I got for actually removing/installing the ball joint itself is known to work on this year/model)

2. I think one of my spring pads may be damaged, and I'd like to replace it (I'd probably replace both, given their age).

The manual goes through the removal of the lower control arm under controlled circumstances with a lowering fixture on top of a jack (which requires that the car is pretty high). This looks a lot more dangerous than a compressor and is not practical for me.

A tool similar in principle to the Klann, but using just a long threaded rod is used in lower ball joint removal in the MB manual, not to remove the spring, apparently, but only to releive pressure on it).

Why won't the following type of compressor shown in the attached image work? Is it just not strong enough? Would I have trouble getting the arm assemblies through the spirals of the spring, even if I extended the spring as far as I can while all is still assembled? Thanks for any advice.