Okay..I got the internal spring compressor, jack stands, hydraulic jacks, safety gogles and I understand all the safety issues. Now I have 2 different manuals for my 67 SS. One says place the jack under the control arm and remove the bushing bolts and then lower control arm. The other one says put the jack under the ball joint side. I'm at the altar and need advice!

what works for me all the time is put the jack under the ball joint and jack up the car then seperate the upper and lower ball joint then let jack down slow and use a crow bar to pull out the bottom of the spring make sure you have a jack stand under the frame the higher the better. mike :cool:

are you just changing springs or doing a rebuild? Either way I say toss the spring compressor in the garbage, get the car supported with jack stands so the front suspension can hang free, loosen the lower ball joint nut most of the way but not all the way off, break the lower ball joint loose with a pickle fork (do upper same way now if removing the spindle, not needed for just a spring change), remove the lower ball joint nut. Spindle will break free and move up a bit, no biggie the shock is still keeping the spring in place. Put the floor jack under the lower control arm under the lower ball joint, jack up lower control arm a bit to take pressure off the shock, remove shock, put safety chain through spring, lower floor jack down and the lower control arm will come down releasing the spring. You want the car high enough so you can get the lower control arm pointing as far down as possible so you can just pull the spring out by hand once the tension is off it. I have a spring compressor but only use it during install IF the car doesnt have an engine. Otherwise I dont use it at all.

That is the way I did it also it worked perfectly. What's this "safety chain"? I see no safety here! Just stand back when you SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY let the jack down.

Heavy Chain thru the spring and around the frame... Ditto, Ditto, Ditto. Safety 1st! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Just thrown on a hockey helmet with the face gaurd and pop that sucker out. :D

Me and Al did this on my ride exaclty as Dave described. Worked mint.

if you remove the upper shock bolt, but keep the lowers attached, it should keep the spring from flying out.

If you are using the "loosen but don't remove spindel nuts" technique to help pop the ball joints loose, you might want to keep the floor jack under the ball joint (with a slight gap) just in case the nut should let go.

Don't forget to remove the zert (zerk?) fitting before putting the jack under the ball joint.

You know, I can't say that I have ever seen a front coil spring come loose...... and I have done a bunch of them.... the dangerous way!!!!

Cam

Hey Rocky,
you can stand there speechless while I am done with my rebuild, and you are still there cursing at the spring compressor because the A)fingers slipped and now its compressing the spring at the wrong angle B) threads galled from all the spring force on it and now it wont release, or C)if you get past that the darn thing now wont come out of the shock hole even though it got in there somehow. Ever actually do any wrenching on a front end rebuild, or just read about it? If it makes you feel better, dont throw the compressor in the garbage, save it for when the car has no engine. Its NOT a safety device, its a tool. Have I seen a spring let go? Nope, because I use a SAFETY CHAIN but I guess you didnt read that far into my reply. Now go try it before you post a reply smile.gif