DZAUTO

This is true, BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, the replacement shafts are SUPPOSED to be this hard to get in. The reason is so that there is no possibility of the shaft turning in the spring tower. Only the bushing is supposed to turn on the shaft.

wesmigletz

Tom, thanks again for all the suggestions. I have an ST-12, but II think I lost it when I moved into the new house. I still have all my shop manuals and chassis service guides, but no idea what happened to the ST-12. I may need to order another one.

I removed the springs by putting a jack with a 2X4 under the lower control arm, just below the outer bushing. Then I used an impact to remove the lower outer cross shaft bolt. When the bolt cleared, I slowly lowered the jack. I'll have to check the upper shafts this weekend, but I'll probably just replace them to be safe.

Today, I removed the front crossmember, the leaf springs and mounts, and sanded and painted the rear frame rails and tire wells. I still need to dissassemble the king pins and the pitman arm from the idler arm, and remove the rear shocks from the car body. I hope to re-install the rear end and detail the engine compartment next weekend.

If I can find a reaonably priced powder coater that can finish the parts by Friday, I'm going to get the fan shrouds, control arms, cross member, engine mounts and rear housing powder painted, probably gloss black. Otherwise, I will hit them with a wire wheel and spray bomb them. By the way, I couldn't remove the drain plug from the rear housing. Am I likely to strip the threads if I force it out?

wesmigletz

Tom, I sent you an email to the address provided. Wes

AZDoug

One safety feature of the allthread method of removing/installing springs is that the allthread acts as a spring capture device should something go wrong. I wouldn't want to get bonked in the face by a rogue coil spring.

Doug