Springs are here! Install advice?

[George Selby]

At 01:14 AM 3/8/02, you wrote:
> > The best compressors I have used are your common or garden ratchet tiedown
> > straps. Just jack up that corner of the car as far as you can, put one
> > tiedown onto each side of the spring and crank them tight. Let the jack
> down
> > and voila!
>
>Sounds like an invitation for a disfiguring accident.  Can I watch?

Two weeks ago I was making a frame repair plate for my 78 Ford truck off
the frame of a parts truck I have.  The area of repair is the driver's side
near the front coil spring, so I removed all the suspension stuff, and the
spring was hanging loose from the top perch, no weight on it at all.  The
last thing I had to remove was the top coil perch, and with it the coil
spring would come out.  The last thing holding the perch on was the rubber
overload bumper.  When I removed it, I somehow got engaged with the spring
(no weight on it, remember,) and it had enough force to jam my elbow down
into the radius arm of the truck, right on my funny bone.  It hit so hard I
almost passed out instantly, and when I could think straight in just a
minute I was sure I would be bleeding all over the place.  Luckily I
wasn't, but my arm throbbed for a couple of days, and my last two fingers
were numb until YESTERDAY, and the funny bone is still very sore if it gets
touched at all.

So be very careful.  BTW, I have true coil spring compressors available at
my house, just didn't put them on, because the springs were already
loose.  Doh!

George Selby
83 Audi Coupe GT
gselby4x4 at earthlink.net