Front lower A-arm bushes have recently deteriorated so on to the next repair. I found threads on making a tool and thought I could adapt a similar spring compressor I made years ago, but no, I'd be starting from scratch.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...pressor-37685/

Springs scare me to death tho so at this point I think I'd rather just buy a professional tool and be done with it. SNG Barratt lists the specific tool SPX 204-111. But I found this OTC 7045B online which seems very similar but with some extra attachments:

https://www.toolsid.com/images/otc/i...tion-sheet.pdf

This would also work on one of my other cars and I'd likely get more use out of it, IF it would also work on the Jaguar. Wondering if anyone has ever tried this one?

 

The only thing you need to fear is the material you use. Be sure to use hardened parts, like Grade 8 bolts. Main thing is to read the procedure before attempting this.

Here's a link to someone else's... https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...prings-161228/

Mine is a tad more thought out to get the tightening nut out of the "A" arm well for easier rotation of the nut.... Post #64, https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...4/#post1492833

I forwarded mine to a member in Maryland with the agreement he pay it forward freely to community members, ...but I don't recall who that was.

 

Or for a small amount of $$ you could simply be a member of JCNA and loan all of them for the cost of shipping. Only factory tools in perfect condition with safety assured--just saying-------https://www.jcna.com/tool-loan

 

Thanks. That's really cool that the club loans tools. However, I was really interested in the specific OTC7045B tool as it would be useful in the future for other cars I currently own and hope to have in the future. One potential advantage of the OTC brand tool over homemade is according to some feedback I got on Amazon, is it supposedly has square thread like used in a vice, clamp or screw-jack. That will make it easier to operate and last much, much longer compared to standard UNC all-thread like the home-made tools. I went ahead and ordered one, should be here by the weekend, and will report back if it works for the Jaguar. If not, I may try to borrow the club's tool if its not booked through Christmas or something.

 

pdupler. Not sure why you refer to 'homemade' as nothing we loan is. That said we have a few copies. I think if you look at the OTC tool you will see it very much like the Churchill tool. In fact Churchill and OTC were united prior and OTC was the distributor for Churchill. Both Companies were purchased by SPX and it seems now all may be under Bosch. Good luck.

 

I was comparing the OTC to homemade like the one's I and so many others have made before. It may not be as slick as the Jaguar specific tool, but I'm hopeful the OTC will work better than anything I could make and be useful for more than just one kind of car.

 

Pdupler understand. However if the cup on top of the OTC tool has to be in place I think you will have an issue. Go to page 18 in this catalog and see tool 204-111 or JD 115. https://www.jcna.com/shopimages/tool...ls-2000-on.pdf

 

It does appear that the pin is designed to be retained by the upper ball. However, there may be an advantage. By using the ball and provided spring plates that come with the kit, I should be able to remove the compressed spring without even having to uncompress it. Just set it aside while I service all the bushings and reassemble the lower a-arms to the car without wrestling friction and spring tension. But its all theoretical until Saturday.

 

That's exactly how it works, the arm assembly seperately unbolts from the spring cup and the spring assembly hangs there while you replace bushings and what not.

 

Just to follow up, the OTC7045B works fine but not exactly according to the instructions. The barrel nut is too large to pass through the slot in the Jaguars lower A-arm plate. However, similar to the factory tool, the lower A-arm plate can be used for support and comes out together with the spring. I did have to add a large, flat washer to center the rod because otherwise the threads would foul on the edge of the oblong slot in the lower A-arm plate, but luckily I happened to have just the right washer in my stash (never throw anything away). I did not try the pin in upper spring perch as per the factory tool. I may experiment with that on the other side.

 

big bump but how did you even use this thing without the roll pin?

did you just jam one of those big fat plates between a coil or what?

 

Oh my gosh, its been too long ago and the details are fuzzy now. It's hell getting old. I kind of remember putting one of those plates between the upper coils. I probably inserted it between some wider middle coils and rotated it up to the top as I have done that on other cars too. I can't recall now exactly why I didn't use the roll pin in the Jaguar slot like the factory tool. Seems like I remember it wasn't designed for a precise fit in the slot on the Jaguar, that I was worried it might slip or bend the roll pin to where I wouldn't be able to use it with the tool set's ball and plates anymore, but maybe it just didn't fit the Jaguar slot at all. So I just used the tool more or less the way it was designed for generic application.

 

We have the factory tool and I can say that we used a hardened solid roll pin in place of the factory one because it’s just a ton of force and damaged the original pin. I believe we got it from Grainger if memory serves me correct.

 

good to know. i’ve always used the 3 or 4 rods with ratcheting wrench method.

i’m probably gonna make a throwaway factory style tool to speed it up. or just weld up a super extended socket and use my impact

 

That member is me! I'd forgotten who I'd gotten them from. I've actually used them much more than I've expected to.

I suppose I can send them forward to someone else who needs them, I hope now that I've replaced everything in the front end recently, I won't need them for a while. And I know the design so I can build some myself.