Dreaded coil spring removal
 

Thanks to those who contributed to those great threads a month or so ago.
(search "coil spring removal" in the archives). I can't reply to it because it is archived.

My body is off the chassis, and the motor and trans removed. Thus I can't use the weight of the car to compress the spring, as those discussions imply.
Is there any reason why I still can't remove them, using a compressor? Anything else to beware of?

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (gary6696)
 

gary6696,

I used a rented coil spring compressor from Autozone. I just removed the "sliding" fingers ran the compressor shaft down through the shock mount. Be sure to chain the coil down in case of an accident.

There were lots of different methods used, just be sure to have the car firmly on stands.

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (gary6696)
 

I removed the springs from my car a few months ago and I was terrrified. There is alot of energy in those springs and you really need to be cautious. I ended up buying chains which I wrapped around the springs and the frame so that if they did come loose they would remain captive. I placed a jack under the A frame comressed the sping with jack removed the nut from the lower ball joint and ever so slowly lowered the jack. The enrgy og the spring seperated the A frame and the spring fell out.

I did this because I was not able to get an internal or external spring compressor on the springs. I hope that this helps.

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (mapman)
 

I bought an internal compressor and did the same.

I also wrapped chains around the whole thing. You don't want one of them springs to get free under even the slightest compression.

Good luck and be careful :yesnod:

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (gary6696)
 

An alternative to commercial spring compressors which is cheaper and (IMHO) safer is to compress the spring into the shock tower with a homemade tool consisting of a threaded rod, a piece of metal plate, a couple of nuts and a washer.

Remove the shock. Take a piece of threaded rod and either weld a nut to one end or friction fit a pair of nuts together. Get a piece of metal plate large enough to wedge between the coils. Drill a hole in the middle of the plate big enough so the threaded rod passes through loosely. Your preparations are done.

Put the plate between the coils and pass the threaded rod up from the bottom, through the hole in the lower A arm where the shock mounts, up through the hole in the plate finally up into the hole at the top of the shock tower. Slip on the washer and wind on a nut.

Take a wrench and get to work. As you wind on the top nut, it will pull up the plate, compressing the spring into the shock tower. You may need a second wrench for the bottom nut; sometimes it can start to spin. Once you've compressed the spring enough to take pressure off the lower A arm, you can pop the lower ball joint and she's out.

The shock tower is designed to take the push of the spring so it's safer than dropping the spring out with an internal compresser. Body on or body off makes no difference. No need to load weight onto the suspension.

The only caution is this: Make sure your threaded rod is long enough that you can completely decompress the spring and still have a nut on the top and bottom.

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (Mac)
 

I just did this last weekend. Here are the directions from Vette Brakes. It worked exactly like they said it would with the exception of item #3. You really have to have both a small and large pickle fork to separate the ball joints. Banging on the spindle wasn't going to do it.

I was very careful, but did not buy or rent anything.

Control Arms & Coil Springs Removal. Do One Side At A Time:

1. Place Jack Lower Control underneath lower control arm at the arm’s outer end, close to the ball joint. Fully extend jack. Put enough pressure on jack so it supports the lower control arm. (A block of wood between jack and control arm may help.)

2. Raise control arm assembly at least one inch as a check so that all control arm weight is on jack (but don’t lift of off jack stands).

3. Using hammer, strike flat surface on side of spindle assembly to loosen ball joint so that spindle assembly drops. Remove ball joint nut.

4. Push spindle assembly (hub, rotor, and brake caliper) out away from control arm assembly a few inches and support spindle on jack stand. Caution: Don’t damage brake line or leave spindle hanging by the brake line.

Note: Use extreme caution in the next few steps!

5. Slowly drop jack that is underneath the lower control arm. This releases the residual spring tension on the coil spring. Because this pressure is large on stock coil springs, use extreme caution. Make sure the jack doesn’t slip out…stand in front of the car, out of the way. The minimum distance the jack will travel is about 10” (for stock coils). If removing higher-rated springs (460 or F-41), the spring will release with a shorter drop of the jack and control arm.

6. Remove the two 7/16” bolts that hold the lower control arm shaft to the frame. Retain the nut plate on upper lip of frame for later use. Remove the nut from the 9/16” bolt on the lower control arm shaft (just behind frame). Leave bolt in place. Remove the lower control arm and coil spring.

7. Repeat on other side.

:smash: :smash: :smash:

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (Mac)
 

Ditto what Mac said. I made my own spring compressor tool with large threaded rod and nuts and washers from Home Depot. Worked great and costed about $10. :cheers: :smash:

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (Jvette73)
 

I just removed the shock and put the rod up thru the upper shock mount hole and put a nut and washer on it. then put several suceedingly larger washers on the bottom of rod prutruding from lower controll arm and put a nut on that end. Tightened it up to compress and knocked the ball joint out with pickle fork. Then unbolted the lower controll arm bolts. Then just loosen the nut on rod to allow the controll arm to drop until the spring was unloaded. As long as the rod is in there and there is a nut on each end, its not gonna fly outa there. Just make sure the rod is long enough. Also get a rod as thick as possible but one that will still fit thru the upper shock mount. I think mine was 5/8" thick and just barely fit thru the mount. Putting it togeather was the same way. Drop controll arm down over the rod then the spring and lift the whole thing up and feed the rod thru the upper mount. Add a nut and start crankin. Re-attach controll arm bolts and ball joint and done. It worked well for me.

Re: Dreaded coil spring removal (gary6696)
 

Gentlemen,
Thank you kindly for the advice on this and previous threads.
The coils are out and I didn't get hurt!
I used Autozone's spring compressor and safety chains top and bottom.
Bubba had one spring in upside down which made it a little more difficult getting the fingers in.
The lower BJs seemed hopeless so I removed the uppers instead.
One was almost impossible to break loose. I used one of Bubba's trailing arm bushings ( a hunk of 1/4" iron with a slot in it) as a spacer which helped get the fork in far enough.
Still, I haven't beat off that much since I was a teenager! :smash: