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Installing a Duralast Loaded Strut means a totally new assembly goes on your vehicle. This helps lower the chance of future failures, helps to restore like-new ride control, and helps to improve braking performance. This is a handy skill to have if you’re planning on doing any suspension work on your car. This is a less expensive option, but it’s a little more difficult to use. First, you’ll need to find a solid object to anchor the ratchet strap to.
Now, the full strut assembly should be able to be removed; carefully guide it down and out from under the car. Yes, if you install lowering springs then you need new shocks. The bottom double hook is deep, stays in place, and keeps the setup from twisting off.
Building your own spring compressor is possible, if done carefully
The vehicle should be raised and supported on jack stands prior to doing any of this work. The weight of the vehicle will act as the support on one end when decompressing the spring. One downside is that it's really heavy with a coil spring in it. Also, it doesn't come with any instructions, and it does not work on all vehicle models. In addition, it can be very difficult to remove old warped springs with this tool.
Finally, if you’re in a bind and don’t have either a C-clamp or a length of pipe, you can try using a ratchet strap. Place the strap around the spring and then ratchet it tight. This will compress the spring enough that you should be able to remove it.
Can you retension a spring?
The ones I own are probably 40 years old, high quality, American made, and the claws are plenty long enough to wrap around the spring and hold it. I see that some of the new ones now being sold address the slippage issue by having pins that lock the claws in place around the spring. Use the strut spring compressor to compress the spring.
This drop forged enamel coil spring compressor can be used on various passenger and light commercial vehicles. The second is a big mechanically-cranked plate compressor that resembles an old-style tire-changing jack with two twisted plates on it. You crank it open, insert the plates between the coils of the spring, and crank it closed, pulling the plates together and thereby compressing the spring. I use this one unless there’s some reason I can’t, such as the spring being too big or small to fit between the plates. After a couple of disasters using cheap spring compressors, we bought this Branick 7600 wall/mobile-mount spring compressor to avoid future emergency dental work. To test it in a working environment, we went to Aldan American in Carson, California, where they've assembled thousands of struts and coilovers every year since 1981.
How do you make a spring compress easier?
With a few tools, such as a coil compressor and angle grinder, you can cut the coil springs yourself. To use this tool, you will need to remove the coilover from the car. The spring compressor hooks can handle spring diameters from 3.5-inch to 11.5-inch and compress 3,000 pounds. Align the lower three spring hooks with the spring coils, making sure the coil is dead vertical. Adjust the top hooks, making sure they are on the upper coils, not the bearing plate. Unlike the hook style tool, a more complete and uniform compression allows the strut mount and lock nut to be installed.
Make sure the floor jack is supporting the LCA securely without any possibility of it slipping off of the floor jack. I’ve swung it over into this position where the handle points to the front of the vehicle. This way, I can operate the jack from the front and out of the way of any danger. If anything goes wrong and the spring shoots out, it is encased in the wheel well or it shoots out the side.
Strut Spring Compressor Pricing
No, cutting off some coils actually increases the spring rate, even for a linear rate spring. In principal, there is nothing really wrong with cutting springs. The problem is that often the cut springs are not paired with better dampers, which is a problem.
This static energy can spell disaster if you don’t use a spring compressor to control the springs’ decompression. It handles the heaviest coil-over-shocks on light trucks and SUVs and has longer handles for extra torque. The corkscrew design makes it easy to compress, and spring tension aides in decompression. The compressor will not work on every vehicle and is intended for small cars and light-duty suspension. The pins may bend and may not retract after you're finished with the job.
While each vehicle might have its own strut design, most struts are typically held by 3 bolts at the top and 2 at the bottom. You can access the top bolts by lifting the bonnet of the vehicle. This process provides you with the required clearance to loosen the bolts.
When a shock compresses, it loses volume, so there is a small area filled with nitrogen gas or air that can compress or expand as the hydraulic fluid requires. Granted, the Europa is only a 1600-pound car, but still. If you make the wire diameter larger, you will make the spring stronger and if you make it smaller, you will make it weaker. This is because, by making the wire diameter larger, you are also making the spring’s coils tighter which reduces the spring index.
Press up on the shock and move the LCA down so that the lower mount hole lines up with the LCA mount. Then insert the lower mounting bolt through and hand-tighten; you still torque this after the strut assembly is reinstalled. This will allow for articulation of the lower control arm , which will allow the LCA to rotate and provide additional room to remove/install the front shocks/springs.
This tool easily removes strut springs and is designed for both professional and garage mechanics. Its forged hooks and center screw are strong, long lasting, and built to withstand extreme pressure. This heavy-duty compressor does not slip or slide and works as advertised.
