Cheating the pay toilets

cathead

cathead

CATWERKS LTD
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Feb 7, 2013
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OK, OK I admit it, I'm not really cheating the pay toilets, but rather using sort of a reverse euphamism I guess.
Anyhow, the gas shock that holds up the safety bar in my Bobcat crapped out and I had only installed it
a couple of months ago. This really aggravates me to no end. Actually expecting high pressure nitrogen
gas behind a rubber seal is good in theory but in actuality is out of the realm of practicality.

For that reason I decided that cheating the pay toilets was the best way to go. I installed four valve springs
on the gas shock. It wasn't easy to compress the springs but using a vise and a lot of down pressure, I finally screwed on
the end yoke.

P1020757.JPG.
It actually works the same as the dreadful gas shock and the cost was zero. This probably will not work for all
applications but did for my Bobcat skid steer.
 
Nice work!
I may need to steal that idea for a vehicle hatchback.
My usual is to use a spring clamp or vise grips but that's all manual.

cathead said:
I installed four valve springs on the gas shock. It wasn't easy to compress the springs but using a vise and a lot of down pressure, I finally screwed on
the end yoke.
Click to expand...

I have used one really neat trick for spring compression; not sure where I got it, (maybe here) but it works great:
compress the spring in a vise and use common cable ties to hold them compressed:
1588983162685.png

then install them.
Once installed, only then do you cut the cable tie and let the spring expand.

I was totally surprised, but it worked for me for the heavy spring in a truck door detent mechanism.
It took the job from near impossible to easy!!!

-brino
 
Last edited:
I once needed to compress a helper spring on a shock absorber. The spring got away from me and hit me square between the eyes. It is the only time in my life that I have been knocked unconscious.

Fortunately for me, the thickest bone in the body for us individuals of Polish descent is our skull but I had a knot the size of a hen's egg between my eyes. Some super glue managed to stop the bleeding. (Our vet had done the exact same procedure on one of our horses a few years before)

As luck would have it, my parents made one of their rare visits later that day and I gave them some reason for concern. That was 25 years ago and every time I look at that scar in the mirror, it reminds me not to do stupid stuff.
 
I've got a pickup truck capper that needs new gas shocks. Maybe a spring will work.............................
 
Ya'll Canucks stole our Thrashers a few years ago and I forgot what a hockey stick was... Just minor league hockey here in Atlanta now, not near as flashy and fast as the pros.
 
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