Spring Compressor question

[arjan]

Somebody is selling one of these (pictured) locally. Is this a safe model to work with?

Opinions (educated ones ) would be appreciated.

[Elton]

not sure but i was watching this show once they jacked up the a-arm undid the bolt an slowly let the jack down seem to work good

[MTL_4runner]

You can use the clamshell type compressor but the problem with those is that the taller the spring is, the worse the leverage becomes for compressing it and also the more likely the spring is to pop out. It will probably work, but it's less than ideal. The only thing I would completely stay away from are the chinese Harbor Freight spring compressors.....absolute junk!!!

I myself prefer this type (found at Sears or other auto stores):

[arjan]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Jamie I was a little suspicious that's why I posted this. The guy claimed that this was the perfect spring compressor for dealerships and shops etc.
There are two listed and one them is actually a Snap on.
They were asking $125 and $175, one of them claimed they are over $400 new. (all cnd$)
I'll stay clear of those, and see if I can find some good ones. My front shocks are shot I think, so I was thinking to OME.
Whenever I hit the brakes and hit a metal bar in a bridge deck, the abs kicks in even on dry roads. I think the wheels bounce instead of staying planted on the road.

I was eyeballing your setup, but am not quite sure why you went with the 906s. I'll have to do some more research and fund raising for now.

Arjan

[MTL_4runner]

Jamie I was a little suspicious that's why I posted this. The guy claimed that this was the perfect spring compressor for dealerships and shops etc.

There are two listed and one them is actually a Snap on.

They were asking $125 and $175, one of them claimed they are over $400 new. (all cnd$)
I'll stay clear of those, and see if I can find some good ones. My front shocks are shot I think, so I was thinking to OME.

Whenever I hit the brakes and hit a metal bar in a bridge deck, the abs kicks in even on dry roads. I think the wheels bounce instead of staying planted on the road.

I was eyeballing your setup, but am not quite sure why you went with the 906s. I'll have to do some more research and fund raising for now.

There's no need to buy Snap-on for a spring compressor (it may have cost $400 off the truck, but who cares) or spend nearly that much on one for what you're doing and the number of times you'd use it. Just get the spring compressor from Sears, they're $49 in the US (looks like the buggers raised the price from last year too, used to be $39) and alot of the guys have used them including myself.

Sears compressor:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

or get em off eBay super cheap and ask the person to ship them to you in Canada:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MacPh...spagenameZWDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/Craftsman-Strut-...QQcmdZViewItem

Unfortunately I haven't seen those spring compressors at any of the Canadian Sears stores I've been to but maybe they might carry them up here at some stores as well. You seem to be pretty close to the US border so you can just go take a day trip and pick up a set down south where stuff's cheap and plentiful.

The entire reason I started down the road to changing the suspension components was that my truck had the classic saggy rear end and the shocks seemed like they were on their way out. I started with a full set of OME comfort shocks all around, 881's up front and 890's in the rear (since I had read from people that were running the 891's that it should be a near level combo). Well, they were wrong, so I then swapped out the 890's for the 906's because the 890's gave me more lift than I wanted to match up with the 881's (I didn't want to run any spacers up front or get larger tires). Now I finally have what I was after all along.

[arjan]

Aha, that's the way I'll go to then. I hardly have time to go offroad anyway. I would like to tighten up the handling a bit.
I'll see if one of the local autopart stores have something for spring compressors.

Mine was sagging a couple of years ago, but then the spring recall came through. They offered me limited springs which actually caused rake. At that time I picked up some tacoma struts from a yunkyard to level things out.
Mine came with the 15" steel wheels, quite low, 3.90 gears from the factory. Not very common.
I still have the original front struts, so I can take of the top plates to assemble everything before I take the 4Runner apart.

[p nut]

If you're not going to be using it much, and if you're a cheap skate like me, then you should just rent one. I don't know if your local auto parts stores do rentals, but Autozone and Checkers in the US rent the spring compressors for free. I got some from Autozone (had to leave a $40 deposit, but you get it back when you return the compressors). The ones I got are exactly like the ones MTL posted.

[MTL_4runner]

If you're not going to be using it much, and if you're a cheap skate like me, then you should just rent one. I don't know if your local auto parts stores do rentals, but Autozone and Checkers in the US rent the spring compressors for free. I got some from Autozone (had to leave a $40 deposit, but you get it back when you return the compressors). The ones I got are exactly like the ones MTL posted.

Good point....go to Canadian Tire and ask them what they rent for spring compressors too, should be cheap.

[97t4rnr]

I used the exact same clam shell compressor, it was a Snap-On. Anyway, the bolt exploded, contacted the Snap-On rep, they can't get parts to fix. Their supplier of the compressor no longer makes them, or carries the parts to repair. Entire setup remained together, no flying parts.
I bought another one on eBay, had the NAPA name on it, for $112.00 shipped.
I personally liked the clam shell compressor. Did the SS System 1 install without any problems other than the one noted. Also have to note that the original one had been used frequently. I borrowed it from a guy I know that builds off road buggies/vehicles, and wheels quite a bit. Said he carries it with him when on the trail.

[arjan]

If you're not going to be using it much, and if you're a cheap skate like me, then you should just rent one. I don't know if your local auto parts stores do rentals, but Autozone and Checkers in the US rent the spring compressors for free. I got some from Autozone (had to leave a $40 deposit, but you get it back when you return the compressors). The ones I got are exactly like the ones MTL posted.

Good point....go to Canadian Tire and ask them what they rent for spring compressors too, should be cheap.

Crappy tire rents tools? I didn't even know that. I'll keep that in mind, but if they are less then a $100 it might be a good idea to have a set myself.
Comes in handy sometimes.