After replacing most of the front end components on my 79 over the last couple of weeks, I finally got her mostly put back together tonight. I hit a snag though. I went to put the shocks back in, and realized I didn't get the springs back in the correct "pocket" on the frame. I paid attention to the placement of the coil ends in relation to the lower a-arm drain hole, but neglected to watch as the springs went up into the frame.

My question is, is there any way to force them into the correct position without popping the upper ball joint and dropping the lower a-arm? I hate to have to beat new parts that I just installed.

Tia...

 

with the frame on a jackstand, with a jack under the lower control arm, take the lower control frame bolts loose, gently lower the lower control arm till you can rotate the spring

 

Thanks for the reply Alaskaman.

I opted to go ahead and pop the upper ball joints. I was worried about trying the get the bolt holes lined back up laying under the car with the spring under compression.

Dropping the lower arm still has not solved my problem though. I tried for about 2 hours with a jack under the arm and slowly compressing the spring while trying to pry it into the correct position with a crow bar. I also tried to pop it into the correct spot using a round pry bar through the upper shock hole. So far nothing has worked. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all

I was thinking about trying to get a come-along, or a ratchet strap around the top of the spring and pull it into place from the opposite side of the car.

 

Shouldn't be that difficult. We're missing something. Go back to square one. Get a spring compressor and do it the safe way. A come-a-long sounds dangerous.

 

or if don't mind lowering it a tad, cut a coil off, this will give room you need

 

Are they in right side up? Some springs have a top and a bottom.

 

The problem with using a spring compressor from what I've able to gather from doing searches on the subject, is that it's about impossible to get the thing out after the springs are seated.

That thought had crossed my mind.

I think I'm putting them in right. Tighter coils at the top.

 

I cut exactly one coil out and reasembling was a breeze

 

this works excellent, and is simple
http://willcoxcorvette.com/repairand...lp.php?hID=296
cutting on coil on each side lowers your car perfect. and makes the spring easy to re-install, no fancy tools required

 

Thank you all for sharing this info, I'm in exactly the same boat. During my major rebuild I replaced my front springs with some 460 lb ones. When it was all back together I noticed that the right side was about 1 inch higher than the left side. I've been going around in circles and have concluded the the spring isn't seated correctly in the top spring retainer tower. I'm going to attempt to compress the spring in situe with the spring compressor then rotate the spring and hopefully I can reseat it. It's a bit of a trick to get the spring claws high enough into the spring to enable sufficient compression but possible.

I would be interested to hear form the gentleman that suggested cutting off a coil. Would you suggest this for a 460 lb grand touring type spring? Will this effect height and performance? I don't have any vision of competing in any sporting events! My car is a 70 L46.

Thanks

 

its possible that the driver side is lower due to the extra weight on driver side of car, brake booster/master cylinder,power steering pump/components,steering column,alternator. One full coil will be more than an inch. If it were me since its only one side, assuming that the height difference is due to not being seated properly, I would fix that first and then measure, after a short drive and a settling of both springs!
Lowering for me has always increased handling to the positive.

 

once you've checked the way its seated, and if its still different, try swaping the springs side to side and see if it levels your car. some times aftermarket springs , even though they are claimed to be the same , arent. once you have it level, then if you want ,cut one full coil off both sides

 

One thing I discovered while replacing the front coils on our '77. The factory springs should technically sit into a "pocket" on the top and bottom. The aftermarket springs I tried (2 sets) were not cut at the same places making it impossible to fit both the top and bottom in the pocket. Simply put - the factory spring ends were in line with each other (same side of the spring) - the aftermarket ones were 180 off from each other.

I talked a local restoration place and he said the same thing - he had to order a few sets to get one that fit the way the factory intended. Pain in the butt They did work fine, and I have no noise from the springs at all.

Adam

 

I got 1 spring in tonight using this method.....http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...-easy-now.html

I don't know how I missed that thread in my earlier searches. I went and rented a spring compressor from AutoZone this evening, and did just what the op of that thread did running it through the shock hole. I also used a ratchet strap on the bottom of the spring to pull it to the center of the car as was recommended by another poster.

I never thought the hardest part of of replacing the a-arm bushings was going to be putting the springs back in. I think I would rather have to replace the trailing arm bushings in 10 rusty C3's, outside, at night, in sub zero temperatures, with only a flashlight, and a few hand tools than to deal with these springs again...

 

after trying 2 sets of springs,
i put a 1" rubber spacer under 1 spring that sat low.
i figure it's an old car, why worry?

 

That sounds like an enhanced interogation method. Having just done trailing arm bushings on one car, I am now happier than ever that I bought the 550# front springs. It sounds like you have been through hell on this.

Good luck on the other side.

 

its actually pretty quick and easy, done right, you made it hard

 

This is the tool you need to compress a spring. Unscrew it and it drops right out the bottom. This is a snap on one, others make them also and they work just as well.

 

Well, some mixed results, good news and bad.
The good news is, the spring compression tool I borrowed from Auto Zone “Loan a tool program” reference # 27035 allowed me to reseat my front suspension springs without disrupting any of the key front suspension components. All that was necessary was the removal of the shocks and the rubber stop on the lower control arms. The spring compressor hook assembly needs to be removed from the threaded shaft and fed through the lower fixture location of the shock. Then the threaded shaft can be reattached to the hook assembly and hooked on to the top of the spring. The claw fixture passes between the lowest coil in the spring and is seated against stop on the threaded shaft. You can now compress the spring sufficiently to turn it to be reseated.
I adjusted both springs so their ends partially covered the observation hole on the top side of the spring tower. This seemed to be the correct seating location per the assembly manual. But in any case they are both “dead nuts” the same.
But the bad news is, after a short drive there is still a difference between the top of the front tires and the wheel arches left to right side of about an inch.
I purchased the 460 lb. /inch springs from a major parts supplier in Florida who has offered to accept them back as a return. It now seems to me that I have a miss matched spring set … or something else is going on? If it wasn’t such a pain I’d switch the springs around and see if the high side of the car changes!
Any other suggestions?

 

Although it plays a big part in how the car looks, the body lines can't be used as an accurate measuring point. You need to use the inner pivot bolts of the lower a-arms to the ground, or the frame siderail to the ground, in order to get an accurate "ride height" measurement. If those measurements are equal, side to side, but the body heights are off, you could have a bad body mount cushion...