I ordered a spring compressor from "El Paso Tools" (alkyracer101).
It arrived in a box sealed with "Baum Tools Unlimited" paper/filament tape. Inside the box was a heavy-gauge blow-molded case also bearing "Baum Tools Unlimited" labels. Inside the case, the instructions were packed in a ziploc bag; the instructions also agreed with the branding. I believe that it's safe to presume that the tool is a Baum product, albeit at less than 1/4 of Baum's direct sales cost. The tool itself appears to be of good quality; the center column uses a three lug design to hold the lower plate in place and prevent rotation, not unlike the Klann model, but I believe that the lugs are larger than the Klann ones. The top end has a conical tapered section to hold the top plate in place and six lugs, not unlike a spline to prevent rotation. The center column has ball bearing type thrust bearing. This explains the note that use of power/impact tools would void the warranty, since the ball bearing would quickly develop brinelling. The inner/lower "sleeves" are prevented from rotating by several square lugs that ride in grooves. The upper section has grooves that are cut all the way through, which permits re-lubrication of the screw (which has a trapezoidal type thread instead of the square or even triangular threads as are found on cheaper units). The screw itself looks to have a black oxide or similar finish, with the rest of the center column looks like it has been parkerized with a black finish. It looks like the top end of the tool is possibly a little larger in diameter than the Klann unit that I rented from Rusty a while back (based on my memory of how it felt in my hand) The plates look to be a lighter grey parkerized finish, and are nice and thick; there are two different sizes of plates, just like the Klann. Overall weight of the tool set in its case is close to 15 lbs. I definitely feel safe in using it; I am almost tempted to replace a a cracked LCA and ball joints in a W210 despite the rain, but I am not going to for safety reasons. I'll let y'all know how well it works after I get those jobs done. I think it's a heck of a good buy at about $150 shipped! -j. -- John W Reames jream...@verizon.net Home: +14106646986 Mobile: +14437915905 _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
