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Your cart is empty.Exceptionally strong, rigid frame, weighs only 6 lbs. Works with nearly all valve-in head and L-head engines as well as truck and tractor engines.
Dan
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024
Reason I ordered this compressor:Valve springs literally take me hours to remove/install using a C-clamp and a oxygen sensor remover socket. Place the socket on the spring, struggle to clamp it down with the clamp, clamp shifts, socket shifts, hands get tired out - you get the picture. I have plenty of heads I need to rework and am tired of the hours long routine so I began researching valve spring compressors. I found $20 C clamp looking ones in a case with multiple attachments that looked nice but still manual so those are out. Other $20-60 ones with a lever were rated as cheap and flexible. I landed on this Lisle 44300 and googled it - I watched a video on youtube showing a guy using it on some Ford heads. He blew through those springs like nothing. This compressor is expensive compared to others so after a bit of back and forth thinking about it, I went for it.Thoughts on the compressor:Once it is received, you have to put it together. I will admit, I glanced at the instruction paper and was confused as to how it actually goes together like other reviewers mentioned. After taking a moment to actually read the paper, it was clear you take the one bolt/nut off, move the lever down so the hole near the bottom of the lever lines up, and reinstall the bolt. The compressor is heavy which is fine with me since I want something that will last and not bend or distort while I'm using it.Compressor in action:The most important part is to USE A HAMMER AND A SOCKET over the springs first to loosen up the valve/spring and retainers. If you don't do this, it WILL be difficult to compress the spring since the retainers are stuck. I had one that I didn't release well enough and the force it took to release that spring was 10 times greater than the others that were already released. All I did to release these was to take a socket, put it over the spring and used a hammer to give it a swift hit or two. Then I put the compressor over the spring and it took seconds to remove the retainers and spring. I went through one head in only a few minutes which was amazing to me. I did not have any problems with the clamp part marking up any valves, I did not use anything between the valve and clamp although if I was going to use new valves, I might stick a piece of cut rubber tire tube between.What have I used this on so far:This compressor has worked perfectly on DeLorean (PRV-6) Heads, Ford 302 Heads, Ford 390 Heads and Cadillac 365 heads.Conclusion: I would highly recommend this tool if you work on heads and will continue to have projects with them in the future. I think the cost is a little much for what it is but it definitely is worth it in time savings. As the title says, I wish I had purchased this sooner, that is how much time savings I get from it and how easy it is to use.
Chevy Guy
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2023
Worked perfectly on my 1949 Flathead 6 cyl 377 CI motor
Aaron Powell
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2021
This seemed like a heavy duty well made device however.... I used it on a 4 cyl head to compress the springs and I literally bent the bolts on the device to compress 2-3 stubborn springs. Now you could say made they were rusted or whatever but they were not. The device kept slipping cause some nicks to my aluminum head (not happy about). This was due to the 2 prongs that can be tighented or loosened to fit the spring kept slipping. They slipped cause where there is one bolt there should be 2. The one bolt hole is drilled too far away allowing the prongs to slip or stretch apart. The bolts are of piss poor quality I doubt grade 5 which is pretty standard. I had to replace 4/5 with grade 8. When I told to amazon they nickled and dined me on any sort of reimbursement for the replacement hardware and my time. I think I managed to barely get $10 back which didnt even cover the hardware... I didn't feel comfortable returning due to I had used it for the whole job and I had fabricated/ beefed it up so it would work better.Recap: built better then most and if your springs aren't stuck either by rust (mine was not rusted) or oil baking on the tappets then this will work fine otherwise spend more money and get a better one. For a one time job it's hard justifying the price but time is money and a machine shop cost wayyyy more. I thought amazon should of reimbursemed me at least $25-$30 no questions asked.Hope this helps some people out
Eddie
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2021
Easily compressed the valve springs on my Chevy 350 V8.At first I was worried about the tool maring the valve face. But that was not a problem since the valves are hardened, and the part of the tool that contacts the face is relatively soft steel.
BAS
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2020
This tool is the one you want if you want to invest in a quality tool. It compressed our double spring's on the small block Mopar without issues or complaints.
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019
excellent quality tool that works,thanks
Megan Chacon
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018
Good tool
rexwen2000
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2017
Well made, much heavier than the 30 year old one it replaced.
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