I'll bet most of you will remember the little skirmish that we had on
the Bricklin mailing list a while ago about rebuilding the front end,
and working on the front springs.
If memory servers me - one of the fellows said that he had broken his
hand working on one.
Well, funny we should have had that discussion. It has just cropped up
on the Spitfire list I'm on. Keep in mind the Bricklin spring has at
least 2 the force that the Spitfire spring has. Any way, here is a
compendium of some of the trials these boys are having:
------
At 09:26 PM 3/6/99 -0500, Jack Levy wrote:
What is the correct way of removing springs safely? Today I attempted to
remove a front shock so I put my only compressor on one side of the spring
and tightened then took of the shock tower top nut, needless to say I blew a
4 inch hole in a wall by my bench as the top assembly flew off. I guess a
single compressor won't work?
Jack
------
From: jak0pab@jak10.med.navy.mil [mailto:jak0pab@jak10.med.navy.mil]
Sent: Monday, March 08, 1999 4:53 AM
To: Jack Levy; Spitfire list
Subject: Re: Spring Compressors
Jack, the way you prevent it from blowing a hole in the wall is to make
sure you place a nice stirdy object directly in the path that within ten
days will heal over, (I used my right shin, and would gladly live with
the hole in the wall)
Patrick
------
From: Craig Smith [mailto:CraigS@iewc.com]
Sent: Monday, March 08, 1999 9:10 AM
To: 'jak0pab@jak10.med.navy.mil'; Jack Levy; Spitfire list
Subject: RE: Spring Compressors
I think I might have the Guinness record on distance !
Across a double carport, banked off the wall, out in the drive, about 20
feet.
------
When I was still working as a mechanic I had enough near misses with
compressed springs to get a real respect for them. Working with any
compressed spring should be done with he utmost care and with the proper
tools. For you who have seen what a spring can do when suddenly released be
glad that no critical part of you or someone else got in the way when it went.
When I rebuilt the front end of my Spit I built a compressor from 3/4"
threaded rod and 1" angle iron to compress and hold the spring while I
replaced the shock. Even with it wrapped in this steel cage I run a chain
though the spring, so that should it release it is restricted in its travel.
Be careful out there!
Paul Mostrom
'77 Spitfire 1500
'80 Ford F-100 (Triumph Support Vehicle)
'Black holes, where God divided by zero......'
----------
From: "Jack Levy" <jack@cocoinc.com>
To: "Craig Smith" <CraigS@iewc.com>, <jak0pab@jak10.med.navy.mil>,
"Spitfire list" <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Subject: RE: Spring Compressors
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 10:25:26 -0500
Glad to see I'm not the only one :-)
Jack
-------------------------------------------------
So as one of the fellows said - Be Very Careful !!!!
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
71 Saab Sonett III 75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire
www.team.net/www/morgan bricklin.shel.olsy-na.com/bi
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