I have my build thread here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=570974 but i decided to make a new thread here because I hadn't found any detailed threads on taking out coil springs. so obviously it must be easier for everyone else to do it since nothing else seems to be posted about it lol. for the hambers who dont know the story, im a young guy who has done about 98% of everything on my '58 460 swap. i just am stuck on the coil springs right now and i have some detailed pics of what i have done today. in the below pics, the highlighted areas are what i have unbolted. i also have the shocks out too. are those all the bolts needed off?? also, i took a hammer to the highlighed areas hoping they'd slip down. no luck. all the wet stuff you see is pb blaster. nothing slipped or budged. so am i missing something?? i just wanna get those old springs out so i can get my new ones in. thanks if you can chime in guys
I have a 58 Ranger which is very similar or the same. The bottom bolt wouldn't budge so we had to RTFM. Try taking the top bolt with the cotter pin apart and hit that. It should lift off that and stay attached to the bottom arm.
whats RTFM by chance? so if i take that top bolt off too, then the lower arm should slide down and that old rusty cut spring will slip out? if thats the case i'll give it a shot tomorrow afternoon then. im anxious to get these new coils in there, it'll sit so much better. also am getting rid of the lowering blocks in the back. its just that im stuck on the front right now lol
first things first get rid of that floor jack and buy a real one especailly dealing with the force stored up in a coil spring you need a pickelfork to loosen the joints put the castle nuts back on them just a thread or two
Read the ****in' manual. I'll pull it out and look at it in a minute. You want to pivot the top arm up once you take that bolt out. Watch out though, those springs may pop out with some force.
ill rent a coil spring compressor tomorrow and see if i can get it to go, and buy a pickle fork too while im at it. and see if i have any luck with it. thanks guys.
Pickle forks are hard on ball joint boots. We took out that top spindle nut and then hammered up on the ball joint stud and it popped right out. The repair manual is in the car in the garage. I'll see if it shows anything different.
Those pictures look to me like you are getting ready to injure your self severely, put the nut back on the lower ball joint . screw it down loosely where there is about one eighth inch gap then use a pickle fork to loosen the taper. Those springs store a lot of energy even with the wheels off the ground.
Ok disregard the above posts (except Mike millers) especially post 9 that will just **** up the ball joint stud an not get it out. I don't use a pickle fork except as a last resort unless I am throwing the ball joints or tie rod ends away. 1. Screw the nut back on the lower ball joint several threads. 2. take your bfh (big ****ing hammer) and hit the side of the eye where the tie rod end goes through it square >l The hammer has to be square to the side of the spindle an in line with the arm that the eye is on this will pop the tie rod end out an not damage the threads or end. 3. take out the cotter key and back off the top nut several threads so you have about a quarter inch of threads showing. Take the bfh and hit the side of the eye that the ball joint stud goes through squarely and hard. My bfh weighs 2-1/2 lbs. This should pop the ball joint stud loose from the spindle. 4. Do the same thing on the bottom stud, again hitting the eye it goes though squarely on the side with the hammer. 5. you might want to loop a chain or cable through the spring to keep it from bouncing around but that is up to you. Just something to keep it from flying around the shop. I've done hundreds and have had a few springs bounce around a bit. 6. take the nuts loose on the ball joints. You should then be able to take the spindle off and move it to the side. It's best to either hang it by something or set it on something so that it doesn't stretch the hose. 7. let the jack down slowly (you do have stands or blocks under the frame?) The spring may pop out on it's own or you will need a long pry bar or crow bar to pop it out of the spring bucket. I'll pm you my cell number. Outside of 10 am to 11:30 am and 4:40 pm to 5:30 pm I am usually available to the phone from 6 am pacific time to 9 pm pacific time. Call me if you have a question.
To remove the tie rod and balljoint hit the spindle. For the tie rod end hit the end of the steering arm inline with the arm big hammer do not try to drive the tie rod down. Now for the ball joint replace the nut but not all the way jack up the car not under the control arm so the spring plessure is on the ball joint hit the spindle at the ball joint it should pop lose against the nut. Renting a spring compressor will make this easer put the spring compresser inside the spring away from the spindle place a 2x4 block under the ball joint with the car weight on the block remove the ball joint nut jack up the car at a point away from the spring until the control arm swings down and releases the spring.
Use the force of the coil spring itself to separate the balljoints. Easiest way I have found is to back off the nuts on the ball joints but leave the nuts on the ball joints at least half of their thickness. Then take your floor jack and put a little tension up on the brake rotor (use a block of wood between the rotor and the jack so you don't tear up your rotor) you just need some tension but don't lift the whole car. Then take your BFH and smack the spindle on the SIDE of the spindle where it surrounds the ball joint. You don't want to hit the ball joint itself that will mushroom the threads and you will have a hell of a time getting the nut back on. This make take some time and a lot of hammering but it will work. Once you have the lower joint loose, let the tension off of the floor jack and let the suspension hang, you can now pop the upper joint loose using the tension of the spring and the weight of the spindle and lower A arm. Same deal for the upper joint, BFH to the side of the spindle near the joint. Once the lower joint is loose slide you floor jack back under the the lower arm and put some tension on it again to contain the coil spring. At this point you can take the ball joint nuts off and lift your spindle out of the way. Once the spindle is out you can let the tension off of the lower A arm to let the spring out. The coils in these cars can be REALLY long so a coil compressor may be needed. I always chain the coil spring to the lower A arm JUST IN CASE it tries to pop out. Don't mess around with coils, give them the respect they deserve. They have enough stored energy to do some real damage if they get loose. Not trying to scare you, just be sure to take your time and be careful.
Haha, more than a few guys posted while I was writing that novel! Lots of good advice here. Like Mr48chev said, make sure your car is solidly supported buy GOOD jackstands. Get the nose of the car up as high as you safely can too, nothing ****s more than having a coil halfway out then getting it stuck because the lower A arm is hitting the shop floor!
so i took your pic and made some changes, the red circles are where you should be using your good sized hammer, the green X is where i would have the floor jack, that location will do a better job of compressing the spring, more of the cars weight will help compress the spring, do you have the frame of the car on jack stands? it looks to me like you have messed up the ball joint threads and the nut might not want to go back on? one thing i would be looking at would be if the upper control arm is sitting on the rubber stop, if there is a space between the upper control arm and the rubber stop then your floor jack will be what is keeping the spring compressed, with the lower ball joint loose lowering the jack slowly will take the pressure off the spring without much fuss, thats if you have a jack stand under that corner of your car, you have to have a jack stand under that corner of your car.
Mr48 is also a front end man if I remember correctly. So I bet he has seen and heard all the bad things that happen to people that have coil springs come out and attack.
with a spring compressor pull the coil down tight against the lower arm and remove the 2 as a unit. fasten new coil to lower arm and reinstall. respect the spring.
All I'll add as you compress the spring, is to wrap a piece of chain through the coil and around something that won't move, and hook it back onto itself. That'll keep it from flying when the compressor lets loose as you pull the spring out. Better safe than sorry. I just did my '62 Fairlane's springs last week, and I'll tell ya the noise they make is pretty loud. And I'm really glad I took the extra step to wrap the chain, as I'd probably still be wondering how to get the coil from out of the wall. I've done several 70's F150 4x4's, and that Fairlane had more wound up energy than any of them. EDIT: (After posting, I read it in mr48's post, but it's still worth repeating))
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