Coil spring accident. READ!!

[67shovel]

Removing front suspension on the 73 Vega. Spring compressor threaded rod dropped down through top shock hole and connected to the swing out armed part (one long and one short arm) of the compressor that is engaged on the lowest coil I can get it on. I tighten it up until I've compressed the spring enough to remove the ball joint nut. Nuts off and BANG!!! The spring unloaded and swatted my hand out of the way. Instance broken thumb and blood dripping out of the leather work gloves. Surgery, pins, and a cast later I go back to the scene of the crime to see WTF happened as I've been doing front coil springs for 40 years now.
The compressor is still engaged on the springs BUT it has moved up about 10" on the coil spring and still has some tension on it. I don't think the arms can jump off the coils and move way up on the spring and swing back out and back on the coils so the only thing I can think of is that the coil spring spun (or maybe the arms spun) to very quickly remove the tension on the spring. I'm very fortunate that I wasn't killed or lost my hand.
Drawn a few conclusions and suggestions from this:
1- I should have backed of the spring compressor as soon as I had the ball joint nut removed.
2. Mechanic friend said that I should have clipped a couple vise grips and the coil spring to prevent the arms from climing up the spring.
3. He also said that when he would compress a spring that he would give it a tap or two with a hammer to see if it was going to have a tendency to slip. Try to do that from a distance and out of the path that you would think it would go.
I hope you read this and remember it. We all know the dangers of a compressed coil springs and I have a great respect/fear of them. I've just never had one uncompress and still have the compressor engaged in an INSTANT! I have plenty one time to write now as it's 4 to 6 weeks before I can play in the garage or hold a wrench.

Roger

[RamIt]

Yipes! Thank goodness it will heal up.

I always loosen the bj nut a couple of turns and try to crack the joint loose.
I always have a jack or solid wood block 1/4" under the arm and have a chain bolted through the spring.
There's probably still 1000 pounds of downward pressure on that spring at full droop.

[67shovel]

I did have the ball joint nut lose and cracked first but I had it up on a hoist. I should have also lowered it to the floor to contian the A arm as you said.

"Still learning the hard way"
Roger

[72 SS PNL]

ive always done them on jack stands and close to the ground , gotta admit ive flirted with the devil and slacked off when removing some , worst ive gotten was a blood blister

friend i went to school with was doing some struts on a wall mounted strut compressor , and thought everything was ok , undid the mount and started taking tension off the spring when it shot off , lucky he heard something and ducked , it left a 1inch scratch up his fore head

all goes to show we all gotta pay attention !!! sucks about the damage you got , and you got very lucky , as do alot of us !!

good luck on your recovery !!!


just remembrance to us all to be CAREFUL while working on ANYTHING !!!

[Fasterthansome]

What type of spring compressor any pics?

[vegastre]

4 to 6 weeks before I can play in the garage or hold a wrench.

Mannn Roger,
Sorry to hear that. Ya, The H-Body front coils or just the worst, most dangerous I have ran across. I had one jump off, uncoil and cut my air hose completely in half. Not only did it scare the shit out of me it wound up putting a nice size scratch in my Trans Am sitting next to the Vega. I was pretty pissed at the time but now I do think I am lucky it wasn't worse. BTW, putting them back on is harder, more dangerous than taking them off.

[crawfw]

Sorry to hear of the injury/close call. It certainly couldve been alot worse. I did my first set this past summer and was pretty cautious. Had them out a few times and back in. Certainly serves as a reminder to not get in a hurry with these. I kept a floor jack under the a arm during the work but I see there other precautions to take. I like the vise grips idea.

[JohnKilgore]

my way is to use floor jack. loop a chain under jack and over upper a arm. when you jack up the lower arm the chain will get tight and force ball joint out of spindle. oh be sure you use a nut and bolt to make the chain is a circle.

[67shovel]

Well, my thumb healed up and it was time to put the springs back in. Same spring compressor, same way of doing it but this time with a couple vise grips clipped on to prevent it from riding up the coil and also smacked it a couple times with the hammer after it was compressed to see if it was going to take off. All went smoothly this time just as it has been for the last 40 years of swapping out coil springs on chevys.

[hammerdown7]

Sorry for your earlier misfortune. Good advice here, one thing I would add is to keep others out of harms way when working with the coils.

Dick

[chevyart]

what is the trick to use the vise grips on the spring compressor? to hold it on.? thanks art

[67shovel]

The vise grip is a stop to prevent the compressor from sliding/riding up the coil. Get you compressor on with a little tension and then clip a vise grip on the coil "up hill" next to your compressor arm. You'll have to get the vise grip in the right place or it will get in the way of something as you compress your spring.