So i had my car lowered on coilovers for like 2 days and i get this. Unfortianetly, i think i know why it happen. Me and my buddy took the rear springs off with ease, using our spring compressor. But, when we got to the front, whoooole nother story...
It started out fine, tightening up each compressor to get the spring off, then the all-thread bolt the adjusters sit on began to bend inward and wouldnt tighted nore loosen, which was cuased by about 2" of the allthread being completely stripped with no remaining threads. So i used an impact gun to try and take the compressors off and start over, epic fail... While lossening up the left side, the nut came off the top, which is where all the pressure was sitting...
So im holding the nut in my hand and me and my buddy are looking at eachother trying to figure out why this bending compressor hasnt fallen apart. About 10-15 seconds later, (after i had my BARE fingers on the end of the compressor attempting to put the nut back on the end of it), we look at eachother and where pretty much like OH FUCK! Littereally 2 seconds later the one compressor SHOOTS the nut and 2 washer FLYING across the shop and into the wall. Were both shitting our pants and wondering if eachother is ok, which we were... So, now that one compressor is completely fucked beyond recognition, the other compressor is sitting on it still holding what looks like a SHIT ton of pressure, so much so its bending the spring so much its puting pressure on the center of the strut...
To make an even longer story short, we ended up leaving the one on the spring by itself over night (being saturday nothing was open). We come back in the morning with a NEW set of spring compressor from NAPA ($45.00), and think all is well, we were wrong. The NAPA compressor fucked up the threads and wouldnt come off, so where in the same position. We put the strut in a BIG 50 ton press and layed the strut down with a block of wood putting pressure on the whole unit, pinning it down so it dosnt go anywhere. We got the old compressors off but had no way to get the spring off now...
We ended up heating the spring with an acetylene torch and letting it sag under its own weight along with some we added with the press. Unfortinately it didnt help much, i eneded up cutting both front springs off by puting them in a big vise and taking a grinder to it. Took cutting about 4 coils before there was no more pressure. What a LOOOONG painstaking, DANGEROUS 2 days...
Getting back to the point, i think my strut was bent (the piston part that goes into the cylinder) because we left the one sprng compressor on one side over night and it put alot of pressure on that side... So now im stuck with a fucked up strut (as Leschwab says) and dont have the money to get the ones i really want (either KYB, Koni or Tokico adjustables...). And the worst part of all the broken front, drivers strut started to hit the underside of my hood, putting a very small dent in it. So i tool a metal hacksaw and cut off a good 1/2"-1" of the top of the strut, a few threads above the nut. Its gonna be a bitch to get my coilovers off my fucked up strut when i get new ones, but its gonna have to happen sooner or later....
Thanks for listening to my LOOOOONG story, i mostly wanted to point out how dangerouse it is working with springs and all the pressure behind them, and to show you how fucked up my strut is.... You can actually see where the strut forced the metal coller up and split it down the middle...
ALL DONE.
It started out fine, tightening up each compressor to get the spring off, then the all-thread bolt the adjusters sit on began to bend inward and wouldnt tighted nore loosen, which was cuased by about 2" of the allthread being completely stripped with no remaining threads. So i used an impact gun to try and take the compressors off and start over, epic fail... While lossening up the left side, the nut came off the top, which is where all the pressure was sitting...
So im holding the nut in my hand and me and my buddy are looking at eachother trying to figure out why this bending compressor hasnt fallen apart. About 10-15 seconds later, (after i had my BARE fingers on the end of the compressor attempting to put the nut back on the end of it), we look at eachother and where pretty much like OH FUCK! Littereally 2 seconds later the one compressor SHOOTS the nut and 2 washer FLYING across the shop and into the wall. Were both shitting our pants and wondering if eachother is ok, which we were... So, now that one compressor is completely fucked beyond recognition, the other compressor is sitting on it still holding what looks like a SHIT ton of pressure, so much so its bending the spring so much its puting pressure on the center of the strut...
To make an even longer story short, we ended up leaving the one on the spring by itself over night (being saturday nothing was open). We come back in the morning with a NEW set of spring compressor from NAPA ($45.00), and think all is well, we were wrong. The NAPA compressor fucked up the threads and wouldnt come off, so where in the same position. We put the strut in a BIG 50 ton press and layed the strut down with a block of wood putting pressure on the whole unit, pinning it down so it dosnt go anywhere. We got the old compressors off but had no way to get the spring off now...
We ended up heating the spring with an acetylene torch and letting it sag under its own weight along with some we added with the press. Unfortinately it didnt help much, i eneded up cutting both front springs off by puting them in a big vise and taking a grinder to it. Took cutting about 4 coils before there was no more pressure. What a LOOOONG painstaking, DANGEROUS 2 days...
Getting back to the point, i think my strut was bent (the piston part that goes into the cylinder) because we left the one sprng compressor on one side over night and it put alot of pressure on that side... So now im stuck with a fucked up strut (as Leschwab says) and dont have the money to get the ones i really want (either KYB, Koni or Tokico adjustables...). And the worst part of all the broken front, drivers strut started to hit the underside of my hood, putting a very small dent in it. So i tool a metal hacksaw and cut off a good 1/2"-1" of the top of the strut, a few threads above the nut. Its gonna be a bitch to get my coilovers off my fucked up strut when i get new ones, but its gonna have to happen sooner or later....
Thanks for listening to my LOOOOONG story, i mostly wanted to point out how dangerouse it is working with springs and all the pressure behind them, and to show you how fucked up my strut is.... You can actually see where the strut forced the metal coller up and split it down the middle...
ALL DONE.
Im looking at either KYB, KONI or TOKICO, either the NON-adjustable or adjustable... Just need to make sure it rides well enough and dosnt blow. Not sure on my drop but theres almost no wheel gap, mabey a finger or 2... Soo, 2.5" drop?
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