Strut spring compressor ?

[streetmaster]

Im in the process of trying to remove the coil springs from my very spent front struts, got all new replacement parts, along with a new McPherson interchangeable fork style compressor tool kit, I tried to compress the coil, but of course the coil wont squeeze down enough to take the pressure off the upper spring bracket, so the next step would be between the upper bracket, and top hat if you will, but since the upper bracket is smaller than the lower spring mount, the top fork kind of looks like it could pop off, cause the inner lip cant get a good bite on the bracket, just curious if anybody else has had an issue with this?

[nthor71783]

I had the same issue. My shops wall mounted spring compressor would not collapse the spring enough. While I would not recommend this, I ended up using ratchet straps to compress the spring completely. How the coils are spaced, a two part adjuster would most likely work the best. I don't know if I would trust these from Harbor Freight but something like this. https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/auto-maintenance-repair/macpherson-strut-spring-compressor-set-63262.html

[TheDrip]

That is what I used, but the older version without the safety pins! Squint your eyes, turn your body away and have your wife dial 9-1- into her cellphone.

Finished the job without any injury or damage, but my blood pressure was 5 points higher when I was done

[streetmaster]

I had the same issue. My shops wall mounted spring compressor would not collapse the spring enough. While I would not recommend this, I ended up using ratchet straps to compress the spring completely. How the coils are spaced, a two part adjuster would most likely work the best. I don't know if I would trust these from Harbor Freight but something like this. https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/auto-maintenance-repair/macpherson-strut-spring-compressor-set-63262.html

Thanks for the response, but yeah man, I was checking those out, but decided to plunge for the more heavy duty deal, it does fit pretty good on top of the upper bracket, kind of gave it a test, got about 3/4 ay in, but began to get a bit skittish, and backed off lol, figured id take a stab at seeing how anybody else delt with this issue, besides, id look kinda funny driving my roady without my face howbowdit.

[JRowe]

I recently did mine using a compressor like this

https://www.amazon.com/Shankly-Coil-...=strut&sr=8-16

It was a bit awkward and unbalanced but it got the job done just barely.

[TexaZ3]

Honestly, I undid these struts with airgun without any compressor many times. They do pop off with force, but not enough to even jump off the strut stock most of the time. They kinda just violently disassemble themselves.

[streetmaster]

Honestly, I undid these struts with airgun without any compressor many times. They do pop off with force, but not enough to even jump off the strut stock most of the time. They kinda just violently disassemble themselves.

Yeah man, I managed to get the struts done, and still keep my face lol, wasn't to bad after I done the first strut, the other one was cake.

[workhurts]

When I last did the springs, I used 3 compressors instead of 2 to keep things even. I own a pair and for another from advance auto.

[streetmaster]

When I last did the springs, I used 3 compressors instead of 2 to keep things even. I own a pair and for another from advance auto.

Yeah man, im planning on having an extra set to help stabilize the spring, but the larger fork style compressors are really cool, I learned that they allow you to decompress slowly enough, to align the bottom spring pad a snap, a very nice piece.

[Vintage42]

I used a set of HF compressors. The first strut I compressed as much as the tool would do, but the nut was still popped off and scared me. I thought then that I would not be able to compress the strut enough to get the nut back on, so I just took the old and new struts to a shop and let them do the job. The $40 was worth it.

[JustinHalverson]

I did this job with the harbor freight compressors per nthor71783. I took it slowly and carefully. The compressors proved fully capable of handling my Z3M struts. A year later I was faced with doing the same job on my Toyota van. I took one look at THOSE springs and passed on the idea of using those wimpy compressors.

[rkulman]

Just replaced my front shocks with Koni Sports. Used the Auto Zone free loaner Mcpherson strut compressors. No issues.

[rf900rkw]

M's are easy. With aftermarket springs, most times you don't even need a spring compressor. Konis into a regular Z3 / E36 is an entirely different game.