Ok I dont know where to start.....well remove the front wheel! I have worked on and in the motor, trany, rearend and electrical...but never the front end or spring removal and its got me a little chicken! 1. What steps do I need to do....what comes off first then last? 2. How do I get the springs out and back in...while they are compressed or uncompressed? 3. What type of spring compressor do I need that works the best. Yes I have done a search on the subject but the pictures dont load. Remember I live in the boonies and the parts stores dont understand a "loan a tool". Can someone repost a picture of the compressor that will work and then I can try and find one. Thnaks for the help and any info....and sorry for bring this up again! Todd
Dave Moore just did this....he should be able to help. I did it, but I did it the "frahler way"and if I told you how, I would get band from this board :evilsmile
When Inline6 and I worked on MaverickGrabber's he rented a spring compressor from Autozone or Advanced(can't remember which). It had a collapsable legs on top and bottom. We removed the shock, the wheel and the coil spring cover. The compressor slid through the hole where the shock goes. The legs open up to hook onto the coil spring. We didn't remove it completely. We just took the pressure off of it to cut 1 1/2 coils off. Really an easy job. Unfortunatly I don't have a pic of the tool. Hope this helps some. Darrel
got this one at..auto zone...loan-a-tool... to me it works better than the ..claws on both ends type..frank...
It wouldn't have anything to do with an oxy-cetalene torch would it? Because I wouldn't know anything about that.
im with 71 on this. the one with claws on both ends had to be modified to work on our cars and its really scary to use. if i could do it over i wouldnt have bought that one (couldnt rent it because i cut some of the center bolt length)
yes ditto it does need to be modified.. they are way too long! this is what i used... (though this one is uncut.) they are scary too! that why you cut them really short and they just go right back in with you a compresser if you ever look in the maverick chiltons manual they show a picture of a really cool spring compressor... which i knew were to get one. i bet snap on or mac has one but it probabaly cost more then then it cost me of the car!
I used the same ones, with the hooks on both ends. It worked, but barely, and it got jammed a couple times and I had to back off to start over. IF you do it right the first time, it will come off, but you will likely need to mess with it to make it work. Luckily, i didn't need to compress my springs to get them back on, since I cut them short enough that I can feed the top in then screw the bottom into the little groove. If I would have left another 1/4" I would have had to compress them. It sure is nice to have them short enough to pull them out without compressing them.
IF you buy one like mavman pictured, and make the few mods I outlined above, it will work like a dream
We used the one pictured in Maverick Man's post. I don't recall any issues other than because we didn't remove the spring, we had to release it and reposition it a couple times to make the coil cut. Besides that, it went smooth. Now that we're on the subject of springs, I wonder what my front end will look like when I set the 351w down in ? Originally a 200 6cyl. car.
i think it will be ok ......it be lower then mine was ....it was Advance...was going to buy it till we got done...the bolt started swisting it was junk when we got done no way i was going keep it
I couldn't do any mods as I paid an $80 deposit on "borrowed" tools. I needed my $80 back. If I didn't cut them as much as I did, I would buy a new set and make the mods for future use. I was really relieved that mine were cut enough that just jacking the car up let me twist them out.
will a floor jack not work for this? I've taken many springs out and put them back in with a floor jack but never a spring compressor, got one just never used it, if you knock the ball joints loose and lower the lower control arm with the jack it just eases down and the spring falls out......
