Shock absorbers are a kind of consumables your car. Moreover, the costs of maintaining the suspension in working condition are inversely proportional to the quality of the roads. Car owners are constantly looking for ways to save on repairs and maintenance of their cars. We'll talk about self-repair and restoration of the characteristics of the shock absorber struts.
Typical malfunctions of this unit are known to everyone:
If any malfunction is detected, it is necessary to remove the strut and free it from the spring. Dismantling is carried out in the garage, without the use of special tools.
Sometimes owners of foreign cars, noticing that their struts have leaked, turn to a service station for diagnostics, where they will test them on a stand.
In fact, this is not such a simple task. Before carrying out work, you should carefully study the material and follow safety precautions. First of all, you need to determine whether your shock absorber is collapsible or not. The monolithic body cannot be repaired; opening it with a grinder and welding it is unacceptable.
If there is a nut or retaining ring where the rod enters the pipe, such a shock absorber strut can be serviced and repaired.
This is what a repairable rack looks like
Attention! It is necessary to take care of safety. Work related to high pressure Therefore, eye and hand protection is required.
The process can be seen in the video.
There are different opinions on how to fill a car shock absorber. Nitrogen, carbon dioxide or just compressed air? In a garage setting, there are few options. Compressed air will not significantly degrade the performance, especially considering that this is a repair and not a factory-made rack.
The next malfunction is damage to the rod, seals, and valves inside the strut. There is a certain selection of spare parts on the market for repairing dismountable shock absorbers. In addition, an experienced car enthusiast never throws away old spare parts, but tries to repair them. In addition, you can always extract workable parts from them.
Don't forget to wear gloves, the job is dusty
Turning work is usually cheaper than the cost of a new shock absorber
Tip: The entire process of disassembling the shock absorber should be photographed. This will avoid problems during assembly.
Get rid of stains, dirt and dust while disassembling
All parts must be carefully checked
After pumping the oil, the rack needs to be pumped as usual
If you have basic information about how your shock absorbers work, you can save money on replacing them. Most rack models are repairable, and components are either purchased reasonable prices, or are made independently.
To the landfill! Spare parts from it can be useful in everyday life.
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Look closely - the headboard of this bed is actually an old car hood! Built-in shelves behind the hood offer comfortable spot for storing books and small items.
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The product of a joint effort between an interior designer and a mechanic, this is a one-of-a-kind bench made from an old back door, springs and leaf springs.
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The space between each coil spring can be easily used to store files, documents and small items on your desk.
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Old jars, cans and oil cans from Europe, America or the USSR can decorate your shelves and give them a vintage charm.
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Even our feathered friends appreciate good treatment and Beautiful design! Make them a birdhouse; an old license plate will come in handy for the roof. A cheerful one from the States is best. It is more colorful and wider than our analogues.
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Yes, you can turn old parts into amazingly chic furniture.
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With a little imagination and hard work, these can appear in your dacha garden. beautiful plants. It is not necessary to water them. The stems are from a broken shovel handle, the flowers are from car hubcaps, the leaves are from the canvas of a shovel.
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Thread curtains through an old tractor wheel mounted on the wall and you'll have some pretty curtain rods. Screw it tighter, tractor handlebars are heavy.
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Let your old headlights continue to glow by turning them into retro lamps with extraordinary retro charm.
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To give the tractor rim new life as cozy furniture, paint it and install a soft seat. The ottoman is ready.
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Have you ever thought that old tire can it look so beautiful? All you need is a can of spray paint, a chain and a hook to make this amazingly beautiful flower bed.
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Tired of the porch bench? Take car tires, paint them bright colors, add soft seats and beautiful pillows. Comfort has been created!
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When repairing or adjusting a car's suspension, it becomes necessary to fix the spring in a certain position.
There is a service tool for this work: a spring remover, with which you can remove chassis elements both in a specialized workshop and in a garage.
Various tool concepts:
Let's consider the second option in more detail.
What is a puller used for? It overcomes the straightening force of the springs. The applied force on the puller brackets is commensurate with the weight of the car, but this does not mean that its design is too expensive and high-tech.
There are many options, but they are divided into only two types: mechanical and hydraulic drive.
Most often it has a threaded drive mechanism. 
With a sufficient pin diameter (providing good gear ratio on the thread), and the long handle of the key, you can compress the springs manually without excessive effort.
The technology is as follows: two pullers are symmetrically put on the rack. By turning the threaded rod, you bring the claws to the middle of the spring directly on the shock absorber, compressing it to the required size.
Important: Why can’t a mechanical puller be used alone? When compressed, the spring bends; it is impossible to control this process.
Installing one puller on a spring will cause it to break.
Pullers placed on both sides ensure uniform compression. When working with suspension trucks or heavy SUVs, experienced craftsmen install 3 or even 4 pullers.
Correct installation of pullers on the spring
Service stations often use semi-permanent struts to remove springs from shock absorber struts. 
The tool is quite universal and fits most pendants. Thanks to the drive mechanism gearbox, working with it is convenient and safe.
Popular: How to use a micrometer, and what types of devices are there?
The only drawback is that it is not always possible to compress the spring directly on the car. After all, this is a bench device: the puller works with the suspension removed from the car.
Lever type pullers have a similar “problem”. The mechanism is reliable and safe, but its dimensions do not allow it to fit into the space under the wing of the car. 
Can be portable or stationary. It works on the principle of a jack: there is a main and a working cylinder. By pumping liquid using a lever handle, the operator compresses the power brackets, between which there is a spring. 
A compact two-section puller can also become a helper in a home garage, but a floor-mounted stationary one the machine will fit only for car service. 
Pressure in hydraulic system pressurized using a foot lever. At the same time, the car mechanic’s hands are free, it is convenient and safe to work.
Of course, there are pullers with compressors, electric drives, and other devices that make life easier when servicing a car. This is all good until you see the price tag.
Sometimes it is more profitable to visit a car service center several times than to purchase an industrial puller for personal use. Which exit? Make your own instrument.
Many car enthusiasts use a regular chain: they wind a few turns around the coils of the spring and tighten the chain. After lifting the car with a jack, the shock absorber strut is stretched, but the spring remains compressed. This dangerous way: If the chain slips, the released spring could cause serious injury.
A mechanical semi-stationary “machine” can be created from a “Volgovsky” jack.
Materials used:
Drill, grinder, file, welding machine- such a set is either in the garage or available from a neighbor for a couple of beers. A platform from a corner is assembled to the top of the jack (where the turntable with the gearbox is located). Then a bracket according to the size of the support cup is welded to it. 
We screw the connecting rod to the standard support arm of the jack; the shock absorber strut will fit into it. 
No need to worry about the strength of the structure. The jack lifts the car, the connecting rod also withstands a huge load. And to strengthen the cantilever structure of the bracket, we weld rods from the shock absorber rods. 
The puller is universal: the length of the shock absorber allows you to service any racks for passenger cars, as well as most SUVs. 
The next spring remover, which is easy to make with your own hands, is a tightening type. Suitable for small spring sizes, since it is unrealistic to develop a large force on such a device. 
The components are even more affordable than in the previous design. A piece of pipe, an angle and a long bolt M14 - M18. You can use a hairpin.
We weld brackets from a corner and sawn pieces of an inch pipe. The puller consists of two identical ties, so there should be four brackets. 
Be sure to weld the guide bushings for the studs. Otherwise, when tightening, the brackets will jam. 
The spring is tightened by synchronously tightening the nuts on the studs. If you use a set of 2 ties, they should be installed strictly symmetrically.
Old shock absorbers - throw them out or keep them?
Everything breaks and fails someday, and shock absorbers also need to be changed in a timely manner. But you can experiment with old shock absorbers and do something.
And you can do the following with them: cut the spring a little and stretch it a little, and the old shock absorbers will continue to serve you, and you won’t have to buy new ones. But for this you need special equipment.
If there is no such equipment, then it is better not to take risks, but to throw them out and simply buy a shock absorber to replace them. What else can you do with old shock absorbers? Yes, in principle, you can do a lot of things! The main thing is that there is a desire and time to apply them.
I changed the shock absorbers on my Izh Planet 5 motorcycle and sold them for metal)), I just couldn’t find any other use for them, they were too sunken and could not be restored.
Springs from a car, of course, are more difficult to use anywhere, since they are very tight and rigid. But, for example, springs from a bicycle can be found and placed somewhere. In our country there are enough craftsmen who can make something not only from shock absorbers, but also from any other piece of hardware that comes to hand.
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