Coil spring R/R thought

Thanks for all the help guys! A friend here locally is telling me I
could just merely place a floor jack under the A-frame....pump it
up....remove the lower ball joint..then release the pressure on the
jack, thus lowering the A-frame and the spring dropping with it.

Sounds like it should work. What do ya think?

BTW....I'm installing new coils springs.....I take it I just have to
place these new ones in the same configuration, location in the mounts,
as the old ones?

I say that because everyone is saying to mark the location of the old
ones in their mounts and to mark which side they came off of. The which
side part shouldn't matter at this point huh?

EarthDaddy wrote:
> Thanks for all the help guys! A friend here locally is telling me I
> could just merely place a floor jack under the A-frame....pump it
> up....remove the lower ball joint..then release the pressure on the
> jack, thus lowering the A-frame and the spring dropping with it.
>
> Sounds like it should work. What do ya think?

I wouldn't risk it, you're betting your life that jack won't slip or the
car won't shift. Probably 99% of the time it won't. Getting the new
spring up will likely be riskier.

>
> BTW....I'm installing new coils springs.....I take it I just have to
> place these new ones in the same configuration, location in the mounts,
> as the old ones?
>
> I say that because everyone is saying to mark the location of the old
> ones in their mounts and to mark which side they came off of. The which
> side part shouldn't matter at this point huh?

Yes, just make sure the end of the top coil on the new spring sits in
the same exact position in the spring pocket of the frame as the old
one... the end of the top coil should be positioned about 3/8 inch away
from the coil stop in the spring pocket.

Ok.........I went and purchased the hardware to do the readybolt, nut
and washer method. I have already tried it and compressing the spring
is a breeze. Now to get the friggin rusted old nuts to let go on the
ball joint and let the A-frame drop.......hahahah! These old Vettes are
soooooo much fun!

WayneC wrote:
> EarthDaddy wrote:
>
>> Thanks for all the help guys! A friend here locally is telling me I
>> could just merely place a floor jack under the A-frame....pump it
>> up....remove the lower ball joint..then release the pressure on the
>> jack, thus lowering the A-frame and the spring dropping with it.
>>
>> Sounds like it should work. What do ya think?
>
>
> I wouldn't risk it, you're betting your life that jack won't slip or the
> car won't shift. Probably 99% of the time it won't. Getting the new
> spring up will likely be riskier.
>
>>
>> BTW....I'm installing new coils springs.....I take it I just have to
>> place these new ones in the same configuration, location in the
>> mounts, as the old ones?
>>
>> I say that because everyone is saying to mark the location of the old
>> ones in their mounts and to mark which side they came off of. The
>> which side part shouldn't matter at this point huh?
>
>
> Yes, just make sure the end of the top coil on the new spring sits in
> the same exact position in the spring pocket of the frame as the old
> one... the end of the top coil should be positioned about 3/8 inch away
> from the coil stop in the spring pocket.

in the process of R/R on the coil springs why am I removing the pivot
arm bolts?



WayneC wrote:
> EarthDaddy wrote:
>
>> Thanks for all the help guys! A friend here locally is telling me I
>> could just merely place a floor jack under the A-frame....pump it
>> up....remove the lower ball joint..then release the pressure on the
>> jack, thus lowering the A-frame and the spring dropping with it.
>>
>> Sounds like it should work. What do ya think?
>
>
> I wouldn't risk it, you're betting your life that jack won't slip or the
> car won't shift. Probably 99% of the time it won't. Getting the new
> spring up will likely be riskier.
>
>>
>> BTW....I'm installing new coils springs.....I take it I just have to
>> place these new ones in the same configuration, location in the
>> mounts, as the old ones?
>>
>> I say that because everyone is saying to mark the location of the old
>> ones in their mounts and to mark which side they came off of. The
>> which side part shouldn't matter at this point huh?
>
>
> Yes, just make sure the end of the top coil on the new spring sits in
> the same exact position in the spring pocket of the frame as the old
> one... the end of the top coil should be positioned about 3/8 inch away
> from the coil stop in the spring pocket.

EarthDaddy wrote:
> in the process of R/R on the coil springs why am I removing the pivot
> arm bolts?

I dunno, why are you? ...your original post said: "got a 75 and want to
do front end work"; most of us interpret that phrase to mean you were
replacing bushings and ball joints, which is more often the case than
replacing springs alone. If you only want to replace the springs, either
the ball joint or the pivot arm bolts can be released to get the lower
A-arm out of the way so you can extract the spring.

>
> WayneC wrote:
>
>> EarthDaddy wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for all the help guys! A friend here locally is telling me I
>>> could just merely place a floor jack under the A-frame....pump it
>>> up....remove the lower ball joint..then release the pressure on the
>>> jack, thus lowering the A-frame and the spring dropping with it.
>>>
>>> Sounds like it should work. What do ya think?
>>
>>
>>
>> I wouldn't risk it, you're betting your life that jack won't slip or
>> the car won't shift. Probably 99% of the time it won't. Getting the
>> new spring up will likely be riskier.
>>
>>>
>>> BTW....I'm installing new coils springs.....I take it I just have to
>>> place these new ones in the same configuration, location in the
>>> mounts, as the old ones?
>>>
>>> I say that because everyone is saying to mark the location of the old
>>> ones in their mounts and to mark which side they came off of. The
>>> which side part shouldn't matter at this point huh?
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, just make sure the end of the top coil on the new spring sits in
>> the same exact position in the spring pocket of the frame as the old
>> one... the end of the top coil should be positioned about 3/8 inch
>> away from the coil stop in the spring pocket.

If you are changing bushings, you need to remove the a-arm from the chassis.
If you are changing ball joints, then there is a semi-dangerous method to do
it easy. However, you assume full responsibility of any damages if you
follow it.

Lower ball joint removal
1. Do not compress the spring.
2. Jack car up under a-arm and remove tire.
3. Remove cotter pin and loosen ball joint nut a couple of turns so that
there is a gap between it and the a-arm. Be sure the nut is on by its full
width still.
4. Lower car down and rest rotor or drum on a large block.
5. When you are sure the rotor / drum and the block are stable, lower until
full weight is on the block.
6. Take a large hammer and drive the end of the ball joint down (hit the top
of the stud where the nut is).
7. When the ball joint releases, it will scare the heck out of you and the
nut will suddenly be flush with the a-arm.
8. Now compress the spring with the threaded rod.
9. Jack car up.
10. Remove nut on ball joint and hammer ball joint out of spindle.
11. Move spindle out of the way.
12. Drill out rivets if original or remove bolts if previously replaced, and
remove lower ball joint from a-arm.


Upper ball joint
1. Do all of above first.
2. With spindle loose in step 11, remove cotter pin and nut from upper ball
joint.
3. Place a solid block under the upper a-arm and on top of the frame.
4. With a big hammer, drive the spindle off the upper ball joint stud.
5. Drill out rivets if original or remove bolts if previously replaced, and
remove upper ball joint from a-arm.


If you are only removing the spring, you have to compress it to get it out
without unbolting anything. Thus you have a spring under compression, a lot
of compression, that you have to deal with. That is why the threaded rod,
compressing and removing the pivot bolts, and then slowly uncompressing is
the safest method. The threaded rod cannot slip. Spring compressors have,
especially if very used or damaged.




"EarthDaddy" > wrote in message
...
> in the process of R/R on the coil springs why am I removing the pivot
> arm bolts?
>
>
>
> WayneC wrote:
> > EarthDaddy wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for all the help guys! A friend here locally is telling me I
> >> could just merely place a floor jack under the A-frame....pump it
> >> up....remove the lower ball joint..then release the pressure on the
> >> jack, thus lowering the A-frame and the spring dropping with it.
> >>
> >> Sounds like it should work. What do ya think?
> >
> >
> > I wouldn't risk it, you're betting your life that jack won't slip or the
> > car won't shift. Probably 99% of the time it won't. Getting the new
> > spring up will likely be riskier.
> >
> >>
> >> BTW....I'm installing new coils springs.....I take it I just have to
> >> place these new ones in the same configuration, location in the
> >> mounts, as the old ones?
> >>
> >> I say that because everyone is saying to mark the location of the old
> >> ones in their mounts and to mark which side they came off of. The
> >> which side part shouldn't matter at this point huh?
> >
> >
> > Yes, just make sure the end of the top coil on the new spring sits in
> > the same exact position in the spring pocket of the frame as the old
> > one... the end of the top coil should be positioned about 3/8 inch away
> > from the coil stop in the spring pocket.

Like Wayne said MAKE DAMN SURE you get the spring (end of coil) in the EXACT
same place as the old one. I believe on your car there is an indent in
the upper cup, but not sure.


--
Ric Seyler

RicSeyler wrote:
> Like Wayne said MAKE DAMN SURE you get the spring (end of coil) in the
> EXACT
> same place as the old one. I believe on your car there is an indent in
> the upper cup, but not sure.
>
>
OK.........got it........and yes I am replacing nearly everything in the
front end, so I am going to compress the old springs using the readybolt
method and get them out of the way first.

So far so good...got the tie rods disconnected.