Decompressing a Vehicle's Coil Spring

Video Transcript

"In this clip, we're going to talk about the proper service procedure for removing and replacing a front strut on a front-wheel drive vehicle. In this step, we're going to talk about the proper service procedure for uncompressing our coil spring. I'm going to take my socket and ratchet and slip it on there. Its a lefty loosey, righty tighty kind of bolt. I'm actually going to set it down here on the ground and step on it so I won't fight it all over the shop. While you're uncompressing it, you're going to want to pay close attention that all of your coils are lined up where they should be. As you can see, this one is staying there where it should be. That's the most important one right there. They can tend to want to twist on you a little bit while you're horsing on them. Alright, I'm going to go ahead and slide my compressor out like so and roll it over and repeat the procedure for the other side. Alright, and disengage the lock tab here. Take a little bit more off of it. And disengage the upper lock tab and slip the compressor off. Once you have it totally uncompressed, you're going to take and make sure that that's lined up with the step, take and make sure that this portion is lined up with the mark on the rubber. That is the proper way to uncompress your coil spring on your strut."