Do you need a spring compressor to rebuild the suspension

[twobone]

I'm thinking of replacing some bushings in the front suspension.

 

Do I need a spring compressor to deal with compressing the front spring/shocks in order to get the old bushings out and the new ones in?

 

Is this a job best left to a mechanic with the tools?

[MHKflyer52]

Hi Twobone,

What make shocks and springs do you have on the front of your car?

If they are Spax adjustable spring and shocks then all you will need to do is release the spring tension with a special wrench that fits the spring adjuster ring with the car lifted so the front suspension is in the air (unloads the spring and shock). You should then be able to remove the attaching bolts and nuts and remove the entire spring and shock form the front suspension to replace the bushings in the shocks if they are bad. You will also need a press to push out the old bushings and press in the new ones but this can be accomplished with a large clamp and some sockets if you do not have a press to use.

If you are going to just put harder bushings in the shock ends you will find that their will not be a big difference in your ride. Replacing all of the suspension bushings with harder bushings will make your ride a lot rougher as more of the imperfections in the road surface will be transmitted to the frame and eventually to you. If your going to replace bushings you should also do the bushings in the upper and lower a-arms at the same time and the rear suspension bushings to make the ride uniform and not put undue stresses on other components.

Hope this helps and this is just my belief and as we know everyone has different beliefs on what to do and when.

[bsimon]

Remove dampers and put the body through two plates on a bench top press, resting the spring seat on the plates. Bring the ram down on the rod eye and compress until you can fidget the snap ring out from around the body.

 

In an emergency, I've also used strong cord to compress springs. Tye the cord off on a coil close to one end. run the cord up to the other end of the spring and over another coil to the inside. Back down to the first end and over a coil to the outside, repeat and so on until you have created a 8 or 10 part block and tackle. Pull on the cord and the spring will compress fairly easily.

 

Stay clear of the springy bits though. If something gets loose, springs can be rather dangerous.

[slomove]

If the springs don't have too much preload you can use 2 or 3 long worm-drive hose clamps routed through the top and bottom last accessible spring windings. Working them one by one you can pull the spring together quite a bit. You will however scratch the paint of the spring.

[DeanG]

I've tried the worm-drive hose clamps on my Elan. They had too much preload. I noticed them slipping before they did damage. Scary