Well things went along pretty good using an internal spring compressor. got the spring in, lined up my marks that i made on the spring and the outside of the spring pocket so the end of the spring would be in the proper spot near the upper stop. connected up the spindel to the ball joint, torqued the castle nuts and started to remove the threaded rod.
got the rod out and the lower finger clamp but the upper finger clamp is pinched in the coils up in the tower pocket, cant move it.
any one have any Ideas? I sure dont want to start over.

 

You should be able to use a hammer and a long punch to drive the finger along the coil until there's enough space between the coils to get it out.

 

covett,

You had me going for a moment with the ball joint comment & the picture of the C1 as an Avatar! Understand you have a C2 from your profile.

I agree with LB66383 that with some forceful effort with a hammer and punch, it should pull out. You may want to loosen up that ball joint nut (and pop loose the spindle a tad) to remove some pressure off the spring.

We moved down from the Lockport area (Homer Glen) in 2005. Don't miss the snow or traffic!

Good luck,
Plasticman

 

yea, forgot to add I working on a 67. thanks for the replies, but I cant see that a hammer and punch will work , so little room and the angle
to hit the compressor arms between the coil is slight, but I'll try it tomorrow. had to walk away from the stress today.
plasticman your missing one of the coldest, snowiest winters on record
sometimes I feel like packing up the vette and heading SE your way till my hat floats. but then again I like the seasons. Thanks Craig

 

How about a nice long steel prybar and put pressure down on the coil so someone can get some other implement of destruction in there to slide the thing out.

 

It sounds like the compressor arms are up inside the frame pocket and I don't think your going to get out of this problem that easy. I think your going to have to make up a compressor with a threaded rod through the upper shock mount hole and a plate down just above the lower control arm. Then release the lower (or upper) ball joint, and decompress the spring until the compressor arms will come out. Then recompress the spring and secure the ball joint.

I've always been afraid of this exact thing happening to me when installing a spring and usually position the compressor arms several coils down from the top and a couple of coils up from the bottom (standard springs).

Good luck

 

Dans yellow 66... so you say to run the threaded rod through the threaded finger arm and use a steel plate under the lower a arm with washers and a nut, and go up into the shock mount?

 

Jack back up on the lower ball joint and remove it again. Lower the arm enough to remove some spring pressure, but not enough to loose the spring. See if that will loosen up the compressor ears.

 

covett
If I correctly understand your post I think I had the exact thing happen on one of my 67 springs.
What I did was take the finger clamp I got out, put it in the spring half way up and upside down, put in the threaded rod from the bottom, put on a metal plate and used the nut to compress the lower half of the spring.
That uncompressed the upper half and the upper finger clamp fell out.
HTH Jim

 

My assumption is when you unthreaded the finger arm, it rotated somewhat due to the coils and you will probably not be able to get the rest of the compressor threaded rod or another threaded rod re-engaged in it again. If I'm wrong, then as suggested just put the rest of the spring compressor in place and re-compress the spring and drop the lower control arm. But I suspect your going to have to bypass the finger arm and run a threaded rod down through the upper shock mount hole and using a squared steel plate with a hole in the center, insert it in the coil just above the lower control arm, and tighten it up from topside until you can safely unbolt the spindle and then decompress the spring. One other possibility might be to get a couple McPhearson strut spring clamps that work on the outside of the spring. You might be able to compress the middle of the spring enough to loosen and remove the finger arm.

Another possibility might be to install a couple McPhearson strut spring compressors and compress the spring as much as possible. Then using a floor jack under the lower control arm, you could unbolt the ball joint and use the jack to slowly lower the A-arm enough to decompress the upper part of the spring, and then remove the finger arm. But, these springs can be very dangerous. I'm not 100% certain the McPhearson strut spring compressors can compress a standard spring enough to safely lower it using a jack under the A-arm. It should be OK if you can insert the spring clamps with the car's weight on the wheels. But, what ever - be careful.

.

 

This sounds good too.

 

JIM, thanks... got that sucker out! the lower compressor arm does not have a threaded center, turned the arm upside down,moved it up traveling along the coil , placed the rod up through the steel plate into the lower a arm and spring and through the unthreaded finger arms center, this is where its a PITA, maneuver washers between coil so they drop on top of threaded rod . next get the nut to thread will really try your patience. got it started, cranked down on the lower rod nut compressing the spring. BINGO the upper rod fingers began to move, used a wooden doll and pushed one finger at a time up and off the coil and it fell right out.

 

Well done! And no missing fingers or broken bones!

Plasticman

 

covett
Oh yea, now I remember only one of the finger clamps was threaded. I remember using a threaded rod and compressing the lower part of the spring. Must have used a nut on top of the finger clamp. It was almost 10 years ago.
What I vividly remember was the despair I felt when I clamped off the lower ball joint, removed the lower finger clamp and saw the upper finger clamp mashed in the spring and buried up in the frame spring pocket. Probably exactly like what you felt!
CUL Jim