yes, safety glasses are very important when working with this, because when you have your head hit by a spring flying at a speed of sound, glasses can save you from getting hurt
I have now bought two of these spring compressor tools . The first job I did was the rear springs on my W126 500SEL ; very easy job , done in about 20 minutes . The next job was rear springs on one of my 190E's , but for that you don't need the compressor at all - just unbolt the shock absorber , which I was changing anyway , and with the car supported on stands , remove the inner pivot bolt from the lower wishbone ( supporting on a trolley jack ) , let the jack down and the springs just fall out . Did 190 front springs and W124 front springs with the tool - no problem . Then I got a W140 , which was sagging at the back end ( point to note - earlier cars , pre 95 , have different rear springs from my 98 car ) ; these rear springs are quite short , and I found that I couldn't compress them down far enough without the threaded rod of the compressor sticking out of the end ! So I ended up cutting off the end of the rod until it was short enough ; that worked . However , on just going to do a front spring on the same car , I had to buy another tool because the rod no longer goes long enough to get the plates at each end of the spring ! These springs are VERY long and even with the plates about 1-1/2 turns from each end and tightening down until the coils were almost touching , it still didn't go short enough . it may be that the front springs are also different between early and late cars ; the one that arrived was marked to have come from a 93 car . However , I still have the original rear springs I ordered before ; these are the same diameter as the front springs , but just a little shorter , so I'm going to pop one in temporarily just to get the car mobile again , and will order the correct springs from M-B , or from Bilstein if I can be sure they are correct - I do have the part no from the original broken MB spring , so will reference against that .I need the car mobile as I am moving house end of next week and can't have it stuck on the drive , however i do not believe in bodges and will fir the correct parts , both sides , once i get moved into my new house . You do have to be extremely careful with these things as there is a lot of stored energy in a compressed spring , and be sure to support the car safely when working on it .
yes, safety glasses are very important when working with this, because when you have your head hit by a spring flying at a speed of sound, glasses can save you from getting hurt
I have now bought two of these spring compressor tools .
The first job I did was the rear springs on my W126 500SEL ; very easy job , done in about 20 minutes .
The next job was rear springs on one of my 190E's , but for that you don't need the compressor at all - just unbolt the shock absorber , which I was changing anyway , and with the car supported on stands , remove the inner pivot bolt from the lower wishbone ( supporting on a trolley jack ) , let the jack down and the springs just fall out .
Did 190 front springs and W124 front springs with the tool - no problem .
Then I got a W140 , which was sagging at the back end ( point to note - earlier cars , pre 95 , have different rear springs from my 98 car ) ; these rear springs are quite short , and I found that I couldn't compress them down far enough without the threaded rod of the compressor sticking out of the end ! So I ended up cutting off the end of the rod until it was short enough ; that worked .
However , on just going to do a front spring on the same car , I had to buy another tool because the rod no longer goes long enough to get the plates at each end of the spring ! These springs are VERY long and even with the plates about 1-1/2 turns from each end and tightening down until the coils were almost touching , it still didn't go short enough . it may be that the front springs are also different between early and late cars ; the one that arrived was marked to have come from a 93 car .
However , I still have the original rear springs I ordered before ; these are the same diameter as the front springs , but just a little shorter , so I'm going to pop one in temporarily just to get the car mobile again , and will order the correct springs from M-B , or from Bilstein if I can be sure they are correct - I do have the part no from the original broken MB spring , so will reference against that .I need the car mobile as I am moving house end of next week and can't have it stuck on the drive , however i do not believe in bodges and will fir the correct parts , both sides , once i get moved into my new house .
You do have to be extremely careful with these things as there is a lot of stored energy in a compressed spring , and be sure to support the car safely when working on it .
Agreed! Have to be carefull with all compressors.
So you don't even show how the tool is used in real life. Time waster.