Hi,

I am trying to replace my front top mounts and dampers but having a lot of trouble getting the spring back onto the shock.

I have tried 4 differnt spring compressors including a floor mounted Hydraulic jobbie but none of them seem to do it.

The wind up compressors don't have enouh travel but I don't like to use them anyway. The problem I seem to be having is that no matter how I set up the workshop hydraulic compressor, the same thing happens, the sping compresses and pulls to one side and the shock rod catches on the top coil. Even if I am a little creative with how I mount the spring, I can never get it at the right angle to get the strut bearing on at all.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get these springs back on (preferably that doesn't involve taking it to a local garage...)?

Thanks,

Update:

It's done. Sometimes taking some time out to ask for help on a forum is all you need to clear your mind.

What I did was I used the hydraulic compressor to pull the spring down as much as I could and I used a couple of pry bars to ensure the shock rod stayed in the middle (don't try that at home....) Then I put the top mount only (without the bearing) on with the nut. Then I removed the strut from the Hydralic compressor.

I was then able to use my best pair of "widowmakers" as I could now get 4 coils instead of 3. I was able to wind it further down, remove the top mount, add the bearing and put it all back together.

My mistake was using my Machine Mart hydraulic compressor int the first place. This only pulls down on the top of the spring and the Freelander 2 strut needs to be compressed from the top and bottom at the same time. Using this meant I had to uncompress the spring to swap the shock over and it was never going to go back together.

There's no need to remove the spring compressor while swapping the spring to the new shock. The spring is compressed just enough to free it from the top mount. Then put the spring straight on the new shock, rebuild the replacement top mount and tighten the nut. At this point the spring compressor can be released. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The replacement for the SE.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Up for sale.
Gone. 2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE.