Front springs

[Geek's 65]

Don't waste any time or money on a spring compressor. The easiest, safest, and least expensive way is with a thick threaded rod. Find yourself or purchase a length of threaded rod 5/8" or 3/4" by 30" long.

Remove the shock absorber, and replace it with the threaded rod. At the bottom, I use a thick metal plate about 4" square, and at the top, a few thick flat washers. After threading a nut at the bottom to keep the plate in place. tighten up the nut at the top, while paying very close attention to any upward movement of the lower A-arm.

The minute it starts to rise, you may then completely remove the nut that hold the top ball joint in place, and then all that you need to do is get it out of the spindle, ( a pickle fork, or a few choice blows with a MAN'S hammer ) will usually do the trick. Now unscrew the top nut on your threaded rod and watch the lower a-arm sink low enough to remove/reposition or do what ever else you wish to do with the spring.

No chains or anything else are needed, since even in any worse case scenario, the rod will keep the spring from flying across the garage floor.

Stepinwolf

Been here. Done this. So much better than a spring compressor for all the reasons stated earlier. The threaded rod gives you full control of the spring as you let off the tension and like Stepinwolf says, if it does decide to try and escape on its own - the rod stops it and the only harm done is a quick shorts change.

Geek

 

[John Mcgraw]

I use the same setup as Steppinwolf. I have a 3 foot long piece of all-thread that has a nut welded to the top end, and a piece of angle iron that fits in the recess of the lower A-arm that has a nut welded to it. Just insert the all-thread through the shock hole, and run it down with a impact wrench. Yes, the spring will bow pretty bad before coming out. I will compress the spring, unbolt the lower A-arm from the chassis, and let the spring and the A-arm both drop down as the all-thread is unbolted. To put it back in, just reverse the process. Pull the spring and lower A-arm up until you get it conmpressed enough to put the bolts back into the A-arm. It beats using a spring compressor any day! It is quick, safe, and does not get the blood pressure up trying to wrestle the spring compressor into the center of the spring. The All-thread has to be 5/8", as 3/4" is too large to go through the shock hole.

Regards, John McGraw

 

[Geek's 65]

.........Stepenwolf: I am guessing that the threaded rod method may work better, but I could not find 3/8 allthread rod in grade 8 .........

Dave - That's 5/8 or 3/4 rod - not 3/8. Ya want something with some bone in it.

G

 

[stepinwolf]

I use the same setup as Stepinwolf. The All-thread has to be 5/8", as 3/4" is too large to go through the shock hole.

Regards, John McGraw

Whoops, got me on that one John.

I have been ill lately with a very bad cold, and I was too lazy to go out into the freezing garage to check the exact size of my threaded rod. As you so aptly noted, it is 5/8" in size.

My apologies to anyone for having mis-spoken, I don't usually make nistakes.

Stepinwolf

 

[John Mcgraw]

Bob,

I only knew that because I went to make a new one fairly recently for a friend, and got 3/4" by mistake and was sure ****ed when I had to drive all the way back over to the Home Depot to get the right size.

Regards, John McGraw

 

[John Mcgraw]

Dave - That's 5/8 or 3/4 rod - not 3/8. Ya want something with some bone in it.

G

You don't need Grade 8 all-thread, the common grade 2 stuff from the hardware section at the Home Depot is way stronger than you will ever need. If you look at the tensile strength of a piece of 5/8" grade 2 all-thread, you will find that you have a safety factor of over 5 times the possible load. The tensie strength of a piece of 5/8 grade 2 all-thread is over 16,000 pounds.

Regards, John McGraw

 

[Kid_Again]

all good stuff, many thanks for the attention to this post.......OK, i have the steel plates and can go shopping to the big orange box as well as anybody can....knowing me, i'll try to buy 1" threaded rod at fazzio's in south jersey

...now stepinwolf joins VNV in spending my money....interesting thought in replacing the front springs.......hmmmmmm

 

[stepinwolf]

...now stepinwolf joins VNV in spending my money....interesting thought in replacing the front springs.......hmmmmmm

Kid,

All kidding aside, you have my word that you will NEVER go back to using the regular steel coils, once you have tried the " duel-mount " glass spring. I was not bullshÎtting when I said that the height, on each side could be adjusted, a millimeter ( or a thousandths of an inch ) at a time.

No mods are needed to the frame, and the only modification you need to do, is to shorten by 3" the rear section of both center bumper brackets. Other then that, it's a slip in.

Stepinwolf

 

[00fxd]

Taking Step's advise I have also installed the front leaf system. I like it as well.
Frank.