Internal Spring Compressors

There was some slight debate on the AMC list about which internal spring compressors to use on the Pacer. Read for yourself...

From: Glen Hoag
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 20:59:54 -0500
Subject: Re: spring compressors revisited

At 11:18 PM -0400 8/4/99, Paul Kapteyn wrote:
>A couple of days ago, list member Dick Johnson said that he bought the JC 
>Whitney internal compressor and it worked on his '75 Pacer. If the Pacer 
>springs are the same size as most AMC cars in the '70's, I can't figure 
>that one out, unless he's talking about a tool he bought several years ago. 
>Maybe Dick can give us the tool number --the current JC Whitney catalog 
>lists only one internal unit, and it only fits springs up to 5 5/8 inches. 
>I'm familiar with that tool, because I bought it and had to return it. Too 
>small for the 6.5-inch springs in my Hornet. I called JC Whitney at the 
>time to see if they had a larger internal compressor, and they said no. I 
>then called every tool supplier I knew of and visited dozens of auto parts 
>stores. Nobody had the tool I needed. Only Snap-On.

Just about everything else is unique on the Pacer front suspension, 
so it should come as no surprise that the springs are, too. Pacer 
springs have an outside diameter of 5-1/2 inches.

--Glen Hoag 
  '75 Pacer 258 (x2) 
  Limestone County, Alabama '82 Spirit 151 
  AMO #7895 AMCPC #471