Gent's,
So I'm at the point in the disassembly process where I think it is time for the front springs to come out. So I go down to Auto Zone to get a spring installation tool . Now I come home and look at my chassis and at the tool and I say to myself, self, this ain't gonna work. So after much pondering , I give up and refer to the manual where they show this fancy tool being used by these happy techs underneath a clean car on a lift.
So here I am with essentially a bare frame-no weight on top of it, wondering how to get these springs out, do I block the lower A-arm chain the spring, unbolt the A-arm and hope for the best? Or do I try to pop the ball joints?
Also discovered during further reading, that special tools are needed for removal and installation of the A-arm bushings-say it isn' so!!!
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

John :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

Does anyone have a picture of the "Maryland Spring Compressor" in their archives?

The easiest and safest way to remove front springs is pretty simple as well.

Remove your shock absorbers if you haven't already. Get a piece of all-thread about 2 feet long or so and weld a nut onto one end. Get a piece of boiler plate (3" X 6" or so) and cut an oblong hole in the middle. Have another nut and two washers ready as well.

Place the plate between the bottom coils of the spring. Put a washer by the welded nut and then feed the all-thread up through the hole in the bottom of the a-arm where your shock would be, through the oblong hole, then up through the hole in the top of the shock tower. The reason the hole needs to be oblong is so the all-thread will pass through as the plate will be on an angle between the coils.

Put the second washer on top of the shock tower and wind on the nut. Get your favorite wrench and start winding up the all-thread, drawing the spring into the shock tower. You might need a second wrench at the bottom on the welded nut. Pretty soon, you'll be free of the bottom a-arm, so you can pop the ball joints.

The only special tool I can think of for removal of the bushings is a press but you can get around that as well. It just requires a bit of imagination.

 

Here are 2 pix of the now famous "Maryland" spring compressor.





Mac....good to see you back. :) Chuck



[Modified by Chuck Gongloff, 6:28 AM 10/22/2003]

 

Gent's
Thanks, and I am off to call in some favors at my local Machine Tool Builder!!

John :thumbs:

 

I just unbolted the lower control arm pivot bolts from the frame and let'er rip!! I'm serious. With the suspension completely unloaded, the spring did not have that much force left in it. I then unbolted the upper A arms from the frame, disconnected the pitman arm and removed the entire assembly (all 4 control arms, spindles, ball joints, drag link, etc.) as one piece. It was much easier to take apart on the bench this way than on the floor attached to the frame.

I also did this for a friend who is restoring a Camaro. He said he was dreading the time it was going to take to strip off the front suspension from his subframe. I bet him I could have it all off in 1/2 hour. 1/2 hour later I was the proud owner of a 6 pack on Heiniken. :cheers:

 

Thanks, Chuck- for pics & welcome. :)

 

I am pondering at your post, and puzzled why the spring compressor won't work, unless you got a strut compressor....compresses the struts from the outside...the spring compressor is installed inside the spring, of course the shock has to be removed.

The spring compressor works very good, just have to position the arms so the rod is vertical, then it's a piece of cake, if the rod is in an angle, then you have problems.

 

The spring compressor that I borrowed was too large to fit through the hole on the lower A-arm.

 

I had the same problem when I tried to put both arms through the hole. Ended up puting one arm through, tilting it, the geting the other arm through, same way with the lower arms.

Those arms must be gigantin if they won't fit.

 

I am in the process of doing mine now. I have the car up on jack stands and put a floor jack under the lower control arm, knocked the ball joint out and eased off on the jack til the spring fell out. Don't do what I did. Thsi was a first time for me doing suspension work and I didn't know that the bolts on the upper contriol arm were serated and I took them out with a wrench and it made the holes in the frame to big for the new bolts to grab. So now I am in a pickle trying to figure out a way to get around my self made problem. Looks like I'll have to tack weld the bolts to the frame after I get them installed. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Rodney

 

Rodney,
What specific bolts are you referring to on the upper A-arms? Are you talking about the 2 bolts that hold the uper shaft to the frame or the bolts/rivets that mount the upper ball joint to the A-arm?

John

 

The two that hold the upper arm to the frame. The ones used to line up the front end. The GM manual said to remove them to get the upper arms out. I couldn't get the upper arms out because of the radiator shroud. So not knowing that they where serated I put a wrench to them and took them out instead of knocking them out. When I did that the serations were destroyed on the bolts and it also caused the holes to enlarge. I got some replacement bolts from Dr. Rebuild but they will not dig in so that the nut can be tightened without holding the bolt head with a wrench. I can't find a place around here that has any bolts like these which would be a little larger.

Rodney


[Modified by repruet, 3:21 PM 10/25/2003]


[Modified by repruet, 3:22 PM 10/25/2003]


[Modified by repruet, 3:23 PM 10/25/2003]


[Modified by repruet, 3:24 PM 10/25/2003]

 

OK, I just went out and looked at my frame and my bolts, and I see what you mean. Just dumb luck I didn't do the exact same thing. 2 nights ago I remember knocking those bolts accross the garage with a hammer. So the problem would be holding the nut stationary while you tighten the bolt?
A) Can the wife help and hold the bolt while you tighten the nut?
B) How about a star washer between the bolt head and the frame?
C) How about some red locktite on the frame and right at the base of the bolt head?
Did you also replace your bushings while you had you A-arm out? If so how did you get the old bushing out and the new bushing in?

John

 

I can tighten the things up the first time. With the spindle and everything out of the way I can get a socket in there to hold it. The problem will come when it goes to get an aligment done. It will be difficult to get a socket in there to hold it. I think that some vice grips can be used to grab the bolts from above. I will do the locktite while I am at it. If all else fails I will have to get the bolt heads tack welded to the frame.

I went down to local machine shop and they wanted 120.00 to knock out the old bushings and replace them. For 124.00 I bought a 20 ton shop press and did it myself. Now I have a press when its time for u-joint replacement.

I took a deep socket and put it over the bottom bushing and took a long screw and put it in the shaft where the other screw came out. Then used the press to push them out some. I wasn't able to get them all the way out but I did get the collar pushed away from the arm enough to take an air chisel and finish the job. Reinstalling was easy. I just used the press and socket to push them in. You have to be careful not to bend the arm. I cut a piece of 2x2 board to fit snug in the space between the 2 bushings, this enabled me to press without worry of bending the arm.

Rodney

 

You must be a man of tremendous strength to have been able to back out those bolts against the "gnurls". :) Chuck

 

Getting the springs out is the easy part. On my '65 I could remove and install the springs (probably not stock ones??) easily without a compressor, just using a jack under the A-arm. Tried the same technique on Julie's 70 (with AC) and got them out fine but fought that beast for two full days trying to find a way to get them back in. Tried the famous Maryland spring compressor, but in this case it wouldn't work as the spring would "curve" when trying to compress it and then pop the compressor "plate" out and bend the threaded rod (I think the AC springs have a longer uncompressed length). Ended up having to make a copy of the special A-arm cradle fixture shown in the service manual to jack the inner end of the A-arm up to the frame using a floor jack.

-Greg

 

A buddy of mine took my new springs to a shop that compressed them and then steel banded them in the compressed state. It was a piece of cake at that point to put the compressed spings in place, lower the chassis so the front wheels were on the ground and cut the steel bands with some tin snips. Use ear protection because it makes a big pop. The steel band can then be pulled out with a pair of vice grips. Cost $10 to have them banded.