Im thinking about buying these Pittsburgh spring compressors,
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3980
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but I'm a little wary about the cheap price. Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with these compressors? The Sears ones are $30 more, so I'm wondering if there really is a quality difference.

 

Can't you just go to your local autoparts store and rent one?

drew

 

The one that NAPA had was also a Pittsburgh, and our Kragen doesn't rent em. Also its $15 a day so not really worth the rental if I can buy it for cheaper. What brands do you use?

 

All I know is that every Pittsburg tool that I have used is pretty high quality. I don't know about the compressors, but I have some other tools that are very well made.

 

They are heavy duty and get the job done quick (if you have a air impact wrench). Not worth spending a lot of dough on a part you may only use once. I think Autozone has free rentals though.

 

In my town Autozone almost does not rent stuff anymore, they used to... I am thinking about getting those too...

 

Are they workable without air tools?

 

Definitely. The tool has two sides you have to wrench alternately. Just takes a while for all 4 corners. I believe the socket you'll need is fairly large though...not something in your typical 3/8" socket set but maybe in a 1/2" set. Sorry, I forget what it was. Before I bought my air tools, I used the Pittsburgh to drop my car using hand tools. It took a while.... a LONG while.

At least if you put on lowering springs, the compressors aren't needed so that really helps when putting the springs/strut-shock assemblies back together.

 

thats what I would like to know as well.

 

I have similar ones from VIP and they work fine without air tools. I use my drill on it though.....its a 12 volt DeWalt with like 360 inlbs of tourque, yes thats like 30 ftlbs, but it helps. Its soooooo boring tightening the compressor with a ratchet. Anyway these compressors you are looking at will work great, just plan on buying the needed 15/16" socket for your ratchet.

 

Here's the pdf manual for the compressors -
http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/3000-3999/3980.pdf
It seems fairly time consuming, and has alot of extra parts to put in it - whereas the Sears Craftsman one seems alot simpler, i think all the extra clamps and parts are built in.

 

Ok, I ordered the Pittsburgh ones (10$ extra shipping and handling) came to $20. I hope they're not too hard to use!