6
69vettester
Guest
this is for anyone whose thinking about changing front coils, but doesnt know what to expect. Heres how it went for me.
Just got done installing new 460lb springs.
I started to take pictures for anyone who hasnt done this, but its pretty straightforward so Ill just run the sequence and highlight the potential problem areas that I found.
Get the front end way up in the air and ,of course, secured with jackstands
1. Remove the shock
2. remove the swaybar bolt nut, just leave the bolt in place
3. secure the control arm with a carefully placed floor jack that will roll in the direction of the lowering control. arm. and put a little pressure on the spring.
3. Remove the nut, and Pop the ball joint, using a pickle fork or comparable if necessary.
Its possible the joint will break loose by smacking it hard with a big hammer on the side where a flat spot is casted, this way you wont wipe out the grease boot with the pickle fork! Mine wouldnt budge until I got heavy on it with the fork!
4. Start down with the jack, unloading the spring. I learned to be a master of jack placement, and took great pains to insure that I had a secure hold on the control arm while starting to unload the old spring, very slowly and carefully lowering watching every inch.(dont let that spring get away from you..yikes.) Stop immediatly if the jack starts to look like it doesnt securely have the load and do whatever you need to do to get reset.
5.I had to remove the brake line on the passengers side, or it would have broken while lowering the control arm.
6.Remove the old spring.
7. IMPORTANT There is a ledge in the control arm base that acts as a stop, this is where the end of the spring needs to be before starting it up! This is tricky because the spring is not seated in that place when starting because of the extreme angle. I needed to eyeball it, it wont be seated till its been jacked way up. After the control arm is close to being back in position, I stuck my finger in there to insure that the end of the spring was in its slot and not hung up on the ledge.
8. Bolt everything back up, washed it all up while under there, lubed the joints , after doing the other side, got the car back down on mother earth...walla , done deal.
At first I tried using a springcompressor to help, I found it just got in my way and wasted time, it kept hanging up one place or the other in the control arm tower. So I bailed it. These springs are several inches shorter than stock..another reason a compressor may not be of much use?. By all means use a compressor if you see fit!!
Anybody good with front ends want to elaborate on anything Ive said here or didnt say here, please feel free, Im not proclaiming to be a pro by any means.
TC
Just got done installing new 460lb springs.
I started to take pictures for anyone who hasnt done this, but its pretty straightforward so Ill just run the sequence and highlight the potential problem areas that I found.
Get the front end way up in the air and ,of course, secured with jackstands
1. Remove the shock
2. remove the swaybar bolt nut, just leave the bolt in place
3. secure the control arm with a carefully placed floor jack that will roll in the direction of the lowering control. arm. and put a little pressure on the spring.
3. Remove the nut, and Pop the ball joint, using a pickle fork or comparable if necessary.
Its possible the joint will break loose by smacking it hard with a big hammer on the side where a flat spot is casted, this way you wont wipe out the grease boot with the pickle fork! Mine wouldnt budge until I got heavy on it with the fork!
4. Start down with the jack, unloading the spring. I learned to be a master of jack placement, and took great pains to insure that I had a secure hold on the control arm while starting to unload the old spring, very slowly and carefully lowering watching every inch.(dont let that spring get away from you..yikes.) Stop immediatly if the jack starts to look like it doesnt securely have the load and do whatever you need to do to get reset.
5.I had to remove the brake line on the passengers side, or it would have broken while lowering the control arm.
6.Remove the old spring.
7. IMPORTANT There is a ledge in the control arm base that acts as a stop, this is where the end of the spring needs to be before starting it up! This is tricky because the spring is not seated in that place when starting because of the extreme angle. I needed to eyeball it, it wont be seated till its been jacked way up. After the control arm is close to being back in position, I stuck my finger in there to insure that the end of the spring was in its slot and not hung up on the ledge.
8. Bolt everything back up, washed it all up while under there, lubed the joints , after doing the other side, got the car back down on mother earth...walla , done deal.
At first I tried using a springcompressor to help, I found it just got in my way and wasted time, it kept hanging up one place or the other in the control arm tower. So I bailed it. These springs are several inches shorter than stock..another reason a compressor may not be of much use?. By all means use a compressor if you see fit!!
Anybody good with front ends want to elaborate on anything Ive said here or didnt say here, please feel free, Im not proclaiming to be a pro by any means.
TC
