Technical Tips Needed: cutting coils on my 53 Cadillac

Hey gang. I’ll be putting 4” lowering blocks on the rear. Yes i want it very low.
Could you offer me some tips on cutting the coils?
Is my sequence correct?
—jack up the car + remove wheel
—put another jack under the a-arm holding pressure on it
—remove the shocks
—detach sway bar?
—which is the best place to remove spindle? Circled in yellow?
—at this point i should be able to slowly lower the a-arm using the jack….being mindful that the spring is under huge pressure here.
—eventually the arm will be low enough and spring under no pressure and I can just reach in and remove it now?
—cut 1.5 coils = 3” roughly?
—re***emble.
—Dream big. Fart loud.
—am i missing anything?

 

I would never lower a car by cutting coils, so I cannot give you any tips apart from the one I just gave you………
bttt………..so others can advise you ………..

 

I'm with Moriarty, rather cut a coil then replace.

Cutting a coil doesn't change ride (to a limit as in too low bottoming out) it only changes the height of the spring not spring rate.

Thru the years of doing this to dozens and i mean dozens of cars, it always seemed that lowering springs seemed a lot stiffer/higher spring rate and drove so much harsher then just cutting the oem springs. Figured it was either a "it's close enough to fit application" to " make it stiffer so it don't bottom out" thing.

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I cut the new springs in my OT Belair in 2024, lopped 2 coils out and it rides well.

 

I cut coils without removing them, use a long all-thread and a thick barstock that is longer than the coil width, jack the front up so the lower a frame drops, insert the bar just above the bottom coils you want to cut, draw up the all-thread until the bottom coils are off the bottom of the a frame, cut and remove the all-thread....a lot faster than removing everything

 

@rusty1 They actually make a tool to do that. It's kind of a pain to use the first couple times until you get the hang of but once you do it works well.

It's a steel plate with two 1/4" chains welded to it. The chains go around the bottom of the lower arm and back down to locks to the plate. So the plate is basically floating below the arm. Then another curved plate goes into the spring coils. Then you take a 4-ton ram, slide it up thru the shock hole and it locks into the curved plate and sits on the floating plate and you just jack away.

Used it all the time to cut springs, works really well too for putting in aluminum spring spacers under the spring into the spring pockets.

Don't know if they even make that tool set anymore.... beeline if I remember correctly...


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The adjustment on Buicks is at the top A frame. So it’s ok to remove the bottom trunion, and cut the coil.

 

The front suspension arrangement looks to be the same as Buick. Cutting coils is a good way to lower it, but other factors come into play that warrant consideration- Because of the un-equal A-arm design, as the lower A-arm rises, its arc changes the length affecting the camber. Adjusting the eccentric in the upper arm may compensate for a reasonable drop, 3" maybe not. That much drop will also require heating and bending the steering arms or bump-steer may happen. I studied this for a while on my cars and decided to go the dropped spindle route.

 

Don’t know for sure with your Cad, the manual for my fifty Chevy says to remove the four bolts from the other end of the lower control arm at the frame.

 

...I made my own tool for this, mite try to post pics later

 

For what it is worth, on the Studebaker (same basic suspension) you would remove the A arm bolts from the frame. I'd advise against dis***embly of the trunnions.

 

I'm not sure that is entirely correct, cutting coils does increase the spring rate because you have less active coils, however if you are lowering the car a slightly increased spring rate helps with bottoming out and also can help ride quality. I too prefer to cut OEM springs. Double check your shock length and make sure the spring pocket matches what was originally there. I have probably done more than 20 this year for guy's with off topic race cars. My '60 Parkwood wagon has cut springs for 30 plus years (1 1/2 coils from memory)

 

This is correct, a shortened spring will have an increased rate and thus feel 'stiffer' but those consequences are often a bonus for a lowered vehicle.

 

I did this 3 weeks ago on a 50 Olds 88 which has the same suspension as the Cadillac. Jack the car up so the front wheels are off the ground by about 6 inches. Remove wheels, remove swaybar links, remove tie rod ends from steering arms. If there is a shock in the center of the coil remove it. Put a jack under the lower A frame, and remove the lower trunnion from the A frame. Lower the jack slowly until the spring will come out. Read this backwards to ***emble.

 

QUESTION: Remove the shock first…then the thick threaded rod feeds up from the bottom?

RIGHT ON! Thank you. So it is correct that this is where I should dis***emble? (Circled in yellow)

 

^^^^ When removing the lower trunnion, count the number of turns it takes to remove it. There is a slight adjustment there for the caster.

 

Didn’t read all of the replies but 1: put the car in jack stands not a jack. Then you only need one jack and it’s got less of a chance of killing you.
2: let the coils cool off really slow after cutting them. Don’t quench them

 

Yes, and don't use a torch to cut the coils, use a cutoff wheel, you get a cleaner cut and you don't change the spring metallurgy.

 

If you can get it out, you don’t have any leverage on that short side. That’s the reason the manual says to remove on the other side a lot of pressure on the spring!!!

 

And if you don't have a cutoff wheel, use a hacksaw with a really high-quality blade, you'll cut through it in less than 2 minutes. Did this a couple of times when I was 15/16, when I only had basic hand tools to work with, lol.

Cheap dental insurance: get a couple foot long length of chain. Thread it through the coil spring and around the frame, then lock the ends with a padlock. If your jack slips off the lower A arm when lowering, the spring will stay with the car instead of nailing you.

 

Forty years ago when we’d cut coils on cars, we would remove them from the inside of the A arm. Much easier to remove a few bolts than to remove the ball joint.

We would cut them with a torch back then, but nowadays I’d use a cutoff wheel.

We did notice the shorter spring is stiffer. But as said above, that’s not a bad thing.

And I think the most important advice is, cutting a certain amount of length off the spring does not drop the car that same amount. Geometry, spring rate, and all that will actually multiply the amount of drop. Sneak up on it. It’s easier to cut more off than put it back on.

 

I would do a half coil at a time. When I did my Buick, I went straight to 1-1/2 coils. I ended up having to cut the bump stops in half to have any sort of suspension travel. But man, did it look cool. I could probably extract a spring, cut it, and have everything back together in 45 minutes or so, so it's not a big deal to sneak up on it, IMO.



I subsequently purchased drop springs, and if I were to go lower on the stock suspension, I'd be looking for drop uprights. I am planning on doing OT things to get that low ride height in the future, and they do not involve airbags or hydraulics.

 

Hey fellas. I’m about to cut the coils, which of these 3 bolts do I remove? Many thanks.

 

#2 is the shock, that needs to be removed.

 

….that was my su****ion but wanted to hear it from people w

very cool. Thank you. That was my thought also. I did this proceedure to my 55 Cadillac about 10 years ago. I cut 1.5 coils and it sat low and drove great.

 

Take some safety advice and wrap a chain around one coil and something like the A-arm or frame nad connect them with a bolt or similar to complete the loop. Just in case the spring flies out when are lowering the A-arm. Allow enough slack for the spring to become loose, but not loose enough for the spring to hit you. Even once you have the A-arm lowered the spring may still be slightly under pressure, so use a pry bar or similar longer tool to help wedge it out if necessary.

Another thing which I have no idea on your car, but sometimes springs are flattened on one or both ends; or pig tailed into a smaller circle. Those need to stay flat or the spring won't sit right in the pocket. Those type springs need a shorter replacement spring, can't cut them since the end will now be non-flat or too big of diameter to fit back in.

 

HEY GANG.
So i just removed the coils from my 53 Cad. I cut 1 full coil of both springs (from the open ended side obviously, not the smoothened flat side.)
When i was removing the springs I noticed the flattened end of the coils were on the bottom so the open ended coil was at the top.
Isn’t that the opposite of what supposed to be? This car was definitely dis***embled at some point, i can tell by some after market shiny bolts holding the lower shock mount and a few other things.

On the upper and lower spring cup…i do not see any little recessed pocket where the pigtail would sit; both spring pockets are smooth.
How should I reinstall the springs? ….smooth end at the top or bottom?
I found this old photo online and I think it said for GM cars 1950 & older.
It obviously shows the flat side at the top.
Anyone know definitively?
MANY THANKS!
TED