Do I need a spring compressor?

[The Surveyor]

I'm not sure if this is for you guys, or for the Classic Cars section.

I'm refurbishing a 1968 Maserati Mexico at the moment, current task is cleaning up the suspension, a little powder coating, and replacement of the dampers. For info, here is the assembly parts:-



The damper came out easily from below, but before putting it back, I'd like to get the springs powder coated, and give the wishbones a de-scale and repaint. Looking at the assembly, the spring is retained at the bottom by a pan (Item 71 shaded green) which is held in by 6 bolts from below. The car is secure on axel stands and the initial thought was to put a jack under 71, undo the bolts then gently lower the jack to release the spring.

Now here is the problem, as I undid the bolts (a few turns each working around the pan) the spring started to lift the car off the axel stand. At this point, I valued my limbs and nipped the bolts back up. This is due to the location of the spring near to the pivot I assume.

Question is, would I be better putting the jack under bottom trunnion (item 59) and lowering once I've unbolted the top pivot, or is this a job which I can only do safely with a spring compressor?

Any advice is appreciated.

Paul

[The Wookie]

I'm guessing there's not enough natural droop travel with the damper disconnected to put a jack under the lower ball joint and lower it down slowly until the spring is slack without actually having to undo the plinth?

[The Surveyor]

The Wookie said:

I'm guessing there's not enough natural droop travel with the damper disconnected to put a jack under the lower ball joint and lower it down slowly until the spring is slack without actually having to undo the plinth?

The damper wasn't taking any load, the droop is restrained by a rubber bump-stop on the underside of the upper wishbone. Removing this will gain me about 1 inch of movement, taking a little of the energy out of the spring, but won't drop it to a point where the spring is slack.

Cheers

Paul

[The Wookie]

Ahh I see.

Personally I'd probably be a bit nervous about undoing that top balljoint/pivot/trunnion if there's still enough energy in the spring at full droop to lift the car off the stands. If it's the only thing stopping you from getting more travel then I suspect it'll have exactly the same effect but in a less progressive and controlled fashion!

I'd probably go with spring compressors to be safe, then putting it back together you might find it wasn't as big a deal as you first feared and can get away with a bit of fiddling to avoid damaging your freshly coated springs!

[PaulKemp]

I'm guesing that you may need compressors to get the springs back in
Because you won't get enough threads on the bolts to pull it all together

[The Surveyor]

Thanks for the input gents. You're just confirming what I was thinking.

It's a big lump of a car and the springs are heavy buggers and just didn't fancy seeing them bouncing around the garage!

Spring compressors will be purchased....

Cheers

Paul

[P924]

PaulKemp said:

I'm guesing that you may need compressors to get the springs back in
Because you won't get enough threads on the bolts to pull it all together

This has been my experience.

Trolley jack under the hub, me against the wall, feet against the jack forcing the it towards the car while I pumped it, up with a mate trying to get the top nut back on. Then went and got the spring compressor.

[The Surveyor]

I know this is an old thread but as a little update, I've today installed the freshly powder coated springs using my own home-made spring compressors. Effectively 4 lengths of threaded bar screwed into the underside of the wishbone to allow me to slowly wind on the tension before securing with the 6 new bolts.

Worked a treat



Paul

[Doctor Volt]

Well done, very good method