a point to ponder

[beautimus]

This is not a rant just a heads up kinda thing.
i was just looking at a couple of posts on the board, and came across a post where someone was asking about separating a ball joint. basically he was wanting to know how to do it. there were a lot of helpfull posts, with good info but, no one cautioned about the energy stored in the spring. The poster managed to do it thanks to the advise he was given, but i kinda gotta cringe that we don't always remember that these posts will be read by younger people that are just getting into the hobby, and if we don't let them know of the possible dangers involved, they may pay a big price for it.
think of it this way, if i ask someone how to do something and he tells me something about being carefull in the middle of it all, i wont be offended, i may ignore it, but it won't hurt my feelings, and someone reading the post sometime later can get the low down on a possible hazard that he may not have known existed. I am not tring to be the board police, or offend anyone,
just pointing out something that caught my attention.

[beautimus]

okay heres a link, to really see what i mean, before you read this thread,
imagine that the poster is say 14 years old, and has some mechaical ability,
but he has never seen suspension work done in his life, and he has the frame jacked up, the wheel off, and is banging on the ball joint with no idea what could unleash in front of his face.


(wahlee, please don't take offense here, this is not to critisize you at all,or the great guys who chimed in to respond, just to show what i am talking about.


http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=353936

[Longhorn Man]

interesting. This is the exact oposite of how this group usually acts. 50% of them usually yell about spring compressors and chains.
Kinda interesting.

[mclairmo]

I have a spring compressor and lots of chains.

[Naterman35]

That goes along with alot of things...


I watched a kid strip out bondo with a torch..Works wonders!... just with this particular kid the gas tank was directly behind what he was heating...Or watching someone heat a spring which alone is bad... but there heating a coil with the gas filled shock in the middle...

its good to give advice.. just with some advice you should also give them a heads up on things that are affected by this.

[Tx Firefighter]

I have worked on many vehicles over the years with long springs under compression that must be treated with real respect (and compressors). But, these old trucks really don't have much pressure stored in the springs. I have many, many times, disassembled front suspensions for these trucks and the springs simply don't go anywhere.

With the front crossmember on stands and the lower arms completely unsupported, when you pop the ball joint, the arm just rotates down and the spring rolls out onto the ground.