Re: Soon to arrive!

by dynchel Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:24 am

That wasn't my tip either. Honestly I have done many sets of springs over the years (part of my job description lol) I have always put a floor jack under the control arm (from the front) and slowly let the jack down (lower ball joint disconnected and a 4x4 block of wood under the upper arm to hold it out of the way). The spring will let the arm down far enough to remove it with little to no tension left in it. Is this the safest way to do it? Probably not but that's how I was taught and I've never had a spring fly out or anything like that.

by Hawk03 Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:39 am

I unbolted the ball joints and let the control arm swing down with the spring in place, then I had to pry the spring out with a pry bar. I didn't have any fenders, body or engine to deal with either. It didn't fly out or anything. I'll be putting some compressors on them when I reinstall them.

by thatfnthing Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:41 am

Huh, I know I read it here a while back and just didn't have time to go back and find the original post. Worked like a champ for me and I wanted to give credit 'cuz it's a great tip. I really thought it was one of you guys. My apologies to whomever I missed, then!

by driveit Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:14 pm

Thanks guys. Keep em coming if you have any more!

by Hawk03 Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:31 am

I ended up not using spring compressors. I jacked up the end of the lower control arm after placing the spring in place as close to the hole as possible. I then jacked up the control arm more banging the spring in place with a rubber mallet. It worked like a charm. I had my mom & wife sit in the frame for weight to stop tge frame from jacking up. My springs are about 2" shorter than stock too so that probably helped as well.

by LSANTI76 Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:41 pm

I had mentioned the reverse usage trick with the spring compressor a while back. I stumbled on to this after having too many close calls & scrapping newly painted surfaces when installing front coil springs. It's much easier & safer. Just make sure you have plenty of oil on the threads of the spring compressor. When removing the old coils I have used the already mentioned floor jack under the lower control arm method. Back off the nuts 2-3 full turns on the ball joints & use the tension of the spring to break loose your ball joints from the spindles. You will more than likely have to hammer on the nut & ball joint stud to make the pop loose. For extra safety wrap a chain around the frame & spring to ensure it can't launch out.
Also if you are replacing your upper bump stops into the upper control arms its easier to install the coil spring & then use a floor jack under the lower control arm to compress the spring. Then place the end of the bump stop that inserts into the upper control arm slot & slowly release your floor jack. The bump stop will rest against the frame automatically pressing into the slot of the upper control arm.

by driveit Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:08 am

Thanks. Ill try and keep all this in mind.

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