OTC Strut Tamer Extreme - Tool Of The Month

Ask anyone who’s ever lowered or lifted a truck and needed to compress a coil spring how nerve racking it can be. Truck coil springs are large and designed to hold the weight of a 4,500-5,500-pound truck -- they have to be heavy-duty. Using a traditional two-sided coil spring compressor you bought at the parts store can lead to bent or broken tools, or even worse, personal injury (we’ve seen springs shoot across a shop). Even coil compressor tools designed to work with heavy-duty coil springs that you find at automotive repair shops struggle to genuinely compress the springs enough to service them. We’ve tried all types of unsafe ways to compress truck coil springs and we’re happy to report those days are behind us. Let us introduce you to the OTC Strut Tamer Extreme. Engineered specifically for ½-ton truck coil springs, the Strut Tamer Extreme is the easiest, safest, and most versatile coil spring compressor we’ve used.

"The optional stand makes the OTC Strut Tamer Extreme completely portable, yet the roller wheels don’t detract from the overall stability and performance."

With its 2:1 reduction gearbox, the Strut Tamer Extreme takes your effort and multiplies the torque compression by two, which translates to less work, and doesn’t wear you out in the process. What we really liked was the multiple ways the Strut Tamer locks the coil spring into the tool. Adjustable lock rings hold the four pivot arms in place, while four-point locking jaws (with jam nuts) have a secure hold on the actual coil spring. The jaws are extensions of the arms, which bear the actual force of the compression, and adjust in, out, up, and down to accept a variety of coil spring sizes. We ordered Strut Tamer Extreme (PN: 6592), complete with the optional stand with roller wheels -- making it a breeze to roll around the shop from truck to truck. The overall package is designed to be wheeled over to a truck whenever it is needed and then rolled over to a corner when not in use, making it ideal for garages or shops with limited storage space. We used the Strut Tamer Extreme on several lowering and lift kit installs with the same great results each time.

It’s not cheap (we found it on summitracing.com for $850.97), but if you’re ready to step up to a professional-grade coil spring compressor, the OTC Strut Tamer Extreme should be your first and last option.

  |   During several lowering and lift kit installs, we used the Strut Tamer Extreme with great results and will never go back to the days of using the unsafe two-sided coil spring compressors.