Hydraulic Spring Compressors

[enuff_zed]

As I do quite a few front coil spring/damper refurbs I am thinking I should invest in one of the free-standing hydraulic coil spring compressors.
The market seems full of them and I'm wondering if anyone already has one and can offer any advice on make, tonnage, price point etc.
This will be used maybe half a dozen time in a year at the most so I don't need a mega-built one but I also don't want to go too cheap and get one that breaks after a couple of uses.
Potentially, once people find out I have one I may find it is used more often as well.
Any advice would be welcomed. Thank you.

 

[smorris_12]

You're an engineer: build one!





I say that quite sincerely. A friend of mine is a mechanic in a garage and apparently they struggled like buggery with a Z4 while having proper kit to use (tho I don't know exactly what.) My lash up works a treat. Sometimes requires a couple of goes to get it lined up for such little springs. E46 was straightforward tho. Got an X5 to do which shouldn't worry it.

Mine is very much a lash up from scrap. If I was redoing it I'd have tubes around the threaded rod on the moving section.