I need to remove the A arms to replace bushings and detail the frame. The body is off of the car. Normally I would use a floor jack on the bottom of the spindle. I am sure this won't work without the weight of the body. I can't get on the springs with spring compressors. How about a piece of all thread inside the spring with a bar across the coils to compress the spring? Any better ideas?

You can do this, I've done it a few times. Remove the lower rear control arm bolts, leave the ball joint in place. Use a pry bar to move the control arm out of the frame. The spring WILL NOT come flying out. You can put a floor jack under it if it makes you fell a little safer. This will take all the compression off the spring and allow you to remove everything easily.

I just did this without the body or engine on the frame. Here is the secret!

I used a heavy chain to go around the upper a-arm mount and under my floor jack. This prevents the frame from pushing away from the floor while you are jacking the lower a-arm up to compress the spring. Worked like a champ!

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/lee69z28/Frame.jpg

Thanks guys. I did not want to find out the hard way what one of those springs tastes like!

Originally posted by Buck5590:
Thanks guys. I did not want to find out the hard way what one of those springs tastes like! Be careful! They can come out of there and hurt you!


Mike

No offense to those that have done it and are comfortable in quoting their own home-made process(es), but I would be genuinely concerned if someone told me that a spring with close to a THOUSAND POUNDS of pressure on it was a simple issue and has been done many times just wrapping some chain around it and not even using a compressor. Reminds me of that old joke about dead red-necks and their last words being "hey watch this...". A front spring is very capable of removing the better part of your skull if it gets loose!

I'm not sure why you can't use a spring compressor...? The idea of a chain wrapped around the floor jack is a start, but again, you're risking SERIOUS BODLY INJURY AND DEATH if you do not take the proper precautions. A chain should be used as additional safety - not the primary instrument. Even spring compressors are a scary proposition at times!

Are you concerend that you'll ruin paint or powdercoat with a spring compressor? If so, one poster here once cited a process in which he drilled a large hole thru a piece of wood and ran the compressor up through the hole and then thru the lower arm and on into the spring. He basically compressed the spring against the arm and the arm against the wood and then put the whole piece into place.

If you're worried about the lack of weight on the front without the body, can you at least have the motor in place? I did mine not too long ago having 4 buddies stand in the empty engine bay as I jacked up the lower arm against the spring. I still had to use a compressor to get the spring small enough to fit into the pocket in the upper area...

Above all else, if something in the back of your mind worries you about what you're doing, chances are there's a problem!

Well,

you have obviously never done this if you think a spring compressor is the answer. There is no room to get the spring compressor out once the steering nuckle is in. The easy answer is to do this with the full weight of the car to assist. That isn't so easy when that car is completely dissasembled for a frame off. If you saw the method I described in person, you wouldn't be as judgmental. The chain I was using is 3/8 and has well over 10 times the strength of the spring.

I don't appreciate the "hold my beer and watch this" comparison. Sometimes it is necessary to figure out a way to do something that there is not an adequate tool designed to do. My solution was completely safe and worked flawlessly.

I don't get your comment about making the spring small to fit in the pocket? The spring has excess room in the pocket compressed or expanded. As far as buddies standing on the frame to compress the spring, not only is that less safe than what I suggested, but I doubt they could compress the Hotchkis spring enough.

Ingenuity is the mother of invention. Or you could just pay sombody to do it for you (they would probably do it the smae way I did).

Mike;

I honestly don't mean to insult you, and I clearly stated that up front. The comparison to a "hold my beer" joke was likewise not directed to you, but again... my apologies. Springs are a dangerous thing and folks have been killed trying various home brew methods and that's the point I was making. I'm sure many others will agree with me that this is not something to take lightly.

For the record, as a matter of fact I DID use a spring compressor just recently and it was the answer. It worked quite well, and is a "relatively" safe way to do it. Remember, there's more than one design of compressor available. The one I had was the two hooks at the end of a threaded shaft and a flat plate at the other. The whole thing goes thru the shock mount hole on the bottom of the lower arm and then goes up inside the spring and pulls it down. It isn't interfered with by the steering, but it can be a little tricky to place properly so it doesn't wedge against the lower arm. Hence, the comment about the wood plate underneath. Now I didn't have the entire steering knuckle installed before pulling the compressor out, I just used it with the spindle bolted in alone and then completed the other parts installation. There were no clearance issues, regardless. The reason I had people standing on the frame was that during the install, with no engine and no front clip, jacking the lower arm up only got the spring compressed so far before the frame started to lift for lack of weight. Had the engine been in already, the addt'l weight likely would not have been an issue Hotchkis, GM or whatever. No danger having guys standing in there either. They were completely shielded from the spring by the frame and suspension.

...and as an additional measure of safety, I used the chain described above as well.

The bottom line here is whatever works SAFELY and comfortably is the best method. That's all...

Mike,

I have installed several sets of Hotchkis springs (as well as numerous other brand springs) in Chevelles... I have never had a problem using a spring compressor...

BUT, I was told the spring compressors that go on the outside of the spring are for the newer "MacPherson Struts", and that those types shouldn't be used for regular coil springs (I don't see why that is, but I have had several people tell me that)...

If the spring compressor is getting in the way of the steering knuckle, then it must be the external type... Try finding the type that fits inside...

Thanks for the input. The spring compressor I have goes inside the spring and wouldn't come out the shock hole. After taking it back apart, I found that the chain method works like a champ and takes much less time. I put both sides together this way in less than 10 minutes. I will do it this way from now on, that should tell you how well it worked.

Mike

I'm glad it worked out for you, I have seen the damage when a spring unleashes it's tension by accident, it took the fender off the car!! Think about what that could do to you. Anyway I use a Snap-On spring compressor and most of the parts come out the hole in the bottom of your lower control arm.


Rocky

Originally posted by rocks66ss:
Anyway I use a Snap-On spring compressor and most of the parts come out the hole in the bottom of your lower control arm.


Rocky Most of the parts? Do you just leave the rest in there? :D


I have a good friend who owns a auto repair shop. He always talks about his snap-on tools. I think it is to make up for his lack of ability. He loves to tell people how much this tool and that tool cost. Seems pretty dumb to me for a hobbiest to pay that kind of money for something they might use once or twice a year. He calls me pretty regularly in the evenings to help him diagnose a problem. Then brings vehicles to my shop for me to do things he can't, like set up gears. While he is over here he feels the need to talk bad about my Craftsman tools. Funny thing is that my tools have the same warranty his do!

You don't have to tell me about the dangers of compressed springs. I knew a guy who worked for Catterpillar who was killed when a spring came out of a hydraulic cylinder and hit him in the head.

The only way for the spring to come out in the way I described above would be for the chain to break. I think I trust that chain a lot more that I trust a couple of small pins holding two bent pieces of metal to a threaded bracket.

If somebody doesn't have the logical ability to figure out how to set up what I described above, then they definitely don't need to be working on suspension components.

I have completed 3 frame up restorations/restifications now without farming out any of the work. I think my abilities are better than most, but definitely not the best. I am smart enough to know when something is dangerous. The method I described above, when done correctly, is not dangerous.

I am through defending my position. I was trying to help a guy out who needed some advise. He can chose to use this advise, or he can figure out a better way. It is irrelevent to me.

You didn't need to defend your position to me, I really don't care if you use a spring compressor or not.

I have had my Snap-On spring compressor for going on 21 years, but I guess the difference between mine and the Craftsman is mine works, yours don't, reguardless of what the warranty says. Just wanted Buck5590 to get his mission accomplished without hurting himself.

I see Buck5590 is from Kansas, shoot me an e-mail and if we are close enough I bring over my Snap-On spring compressor and show you how easy and safe it works.


Rocky

I never stated my spring compressor was a Craftsman thank you very much!

As far as fast and easy....I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts I can put a front end together faster with my method than you can with your overpriced tool!

You keep buying those overpriced tools, and Snap-on will keep paying OCC $150K to build them a chopper.

I'll build my own thanks!

I truly am sorry, I didn't mean to russle the leaves under you tree. I really don't care about speed, But I do care about safety. By the way, who is OCC?


Rocky

I just rent a spring compressor from Oreilly,it has hooks on both ends and slips out the shock hole once the spring is back in...cost 80.00 to rent,but I get it back when I take the compressor back.

Years back I did a front disc conversion on my friend's 69 Nova, and the internal type spring compressor I had would not work. The shock hole in the lower A arm was not large enough for the compressor. So I did the exact same thing as was mentioned earlier. With the lower control arm bushing bolts installed I got the spring up in the pocket and rolled my floor jack under the control arm, then wrapped a frame rack chain (10,000Lb.) under the jack and over the frame. The jack compressed the spring effortlessly and the balljoint was then attached. I worked on frame straightening racks for 18 years, I know what hazards are. The chain and floor jack method works fine.

OCC = Orange County Chopper