Ok folks so I finally got sick of trying to get a hold of a couple of friends I know that could knock this job out no problem. I installed the rears (1963 chevy impala)but I know the fronts are a lot more involved and dangerous. I don't own a car lift so I'll be doing this on the ground with jack stands. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
It's not rocket science,jack the car up,remove the wheel,use a jack stand under the frame low enough to get a 4x4 just a inch or so below the brake drum,remove the nut from the ball joint get a pickle fork and insert between the ball joint and the lower control arm and with a big friggin hammer drive the pickle fork in. You may have to smack it a few times but it will separate and the 4x4 will absorb the pressure when it lets go,,then jack the car up and the spring will gently fall out. HRP
Is there any way the ball joints or ball joint boots will get damaged? Mine are in great shape and I hope I do not screw them up
Take your big hammer and smack the side of the spindle boss that the ball joint goes in and it will come loose. Make sure you leave the nut on a few turns so things go get away from you.
If you try and use too narrow a narrow pickle fork, you will damage the ball joint grease boot. Whacking the spindle in the manner suggested by saltflats is the best way to begin. If you have the tie rod end separated, you can position the spindle where you can get the cleanest shot at it with a really big hammer Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Follow salt flats idea, pickle forks are boot rippers. I could take your whole frt suspension apart without one pickle fork. And do it faster!
Huge pain in the back! I thought I had all the pressure of the passenger side one but no, I let down on the jack slowly and it still flew out and would of hit something only it got caught on a grease fitting. Putting the new ones into place is a huge pain. Anyone who's never done this before be very carefull not to hurt yourself and be ready to spend a lot of time on this.
I used to do coils spring replacements when I worked for a front end shop, day in day out. The BFH method was always good to separate a taper joint. A pickle fork damaging the boot is a crapshoot, but there are 2 types, the narrower one is mainly for tie rods and centerlinks. Anyone that has never done one before, use one of those 4-jaw compressors for safety's sake. I worked with one guy that would drop a tire iron down the shock hole then let the spring loose, great 'til the day it was a bitch to get the tire iron out... I'll be doing them in my '59 within a few weeks, no engine so I'll use the compressor for sure. And there's more to it than you may think. Some springs have a registry up in the pocket, which you can miss and the spring sits in the pocket crooked... and the car sits crooked. The lower mounting is pretty easy to get right.
I was surprised no one mentioned a spring compressor sooner... or at least a length of chain looped around the compressed spring. Spring compressors are usually available to borrow from the parts stores.
The chain logic thing escapes me, sooner of later you have to take the tension off the spring and the chain would be in the way. People talk it up, wonder how many have ever tried it. I've seen people go to the ER for real (2 people with a concussion and broken arm) when fumbling around with a coil spring with no compressor. They make a difference when it goes back in.
I always use a chain. The chain is loose and wrapped around a coil or two and the frame or similar, not holding the coil in compression. The chain is just there to keep the spring from flying out in case it gets away when lowering the jack to relieve tension. Also I always stay to the side as another safety so out of the spring's likely path if it did let go. Putting the spring back in is usually easy since my spring removal was to cut a coil more to lower the car.
So that's the chain technique, thanks. Although I'll never try it. Yeah, you really have to step aside and warn others around to stay clear when you let the jack down. I've posted it elsewhere here, Moog used to make these neat "C" clips that got hung on the in-board side of the spring while under compression. Once the a-arm was dropped, the coil took a curve and dropped out without a fight.
I helped a friend reinstall the front lowering springs on his 64 Bel-Air. He called me after he had to go to the ER and get his finger reattached!!! He was installing the one inch lowering coil and the cheap spring compressor let go and the spring came flying out and smashed his finger on the cement floor. It was hanging by some skin, they almost took it right off but his wife made them reattach it. Any ways, I brought the one from my work home and installed both springs for him. We have a Moog compressor designed for these springs, it goes up the middle of the spring, it is threaded all the way up the large shaft and has a varity of plates that match different spring sizes and compresses it that way. This is a straight forward job that can turn on you very quickly if not cafeful. Be safe.
I am thankful you were not hurt, with the info you received. To receive poor direction and information as to how to remove a coil spring is nothing short of dangerous to the guy doing the job. That spring is a friggin' bomb, being unleashed with a vengeance, if not removed correctly.. Francisco, you should have rented a spring compressor to REMOVE THE SPRING SAFELY, then used the same spring compressor to REINSTALL THE SPRING SAFELY. A trip to the library would have given you details in a Chiltons Manual. Years ago, in my service dept., we had two vehicles needing springs to be removed. One guy had the spring compressor, the other guy did not want to wait for the compressor. Bottom line, the guy WITHOUT the compressor chose not to wait, took the suspension apart HIS WAY, the spring flew out, hit him in the head with a hell of a force. Paramedics took him out of the shop, his right eye had to be removed via emergency surgery. All because of doing the job the wrong way.
Stock coils on the front of a tri 5 use a compressor like a long piece of all thread. May be a similar one is made for yours. Very hard to get the top of the spring in the pocket correctly without it. X2 on the safety chain if you don't have the tool
when I do it, on my FoMoCos, I use 2 jacks -- one for the car body and one for the lower control arm -- works well every time -- just leave the ball joint nut ON loosely to contain the initial "jump" when you use the pickle fork, then load-unload the spring tension by alternatin the individual jacks just DID this recently when replacin the lower control arm bushings on my Merc Amblewagon --
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