Front Coil Springs removal help

Hi guys, Im having trouble pulling out coil spring on pass.side. I borrowed a tool from Auto zone, but I couldnt get it to work. Then I got one from Adv.Auto parts and every time I set the hooks on spring and tighten it up, the rod goes down and hits the base of the upper control arm and wont go any further. Am I doing something wrong? Does anybody have an idea, video, or diagrams, or any help would be greatly appreciated. Reason for reoving coil spring, is the top part of the frame under the upper control arm is rusted and if I dont take care of it now, it will developed more and more and probably ruin the shock tower apron which hold the suspension. If anybodys dealt with the same situation, please feel free to express any ideas or help.

Thanks in advance.

usually with typical compressors you need to add a TON of washers to the stack to use as a spacer to keep the center screw from hitting the base. the mustang coil is oddly short compared to other cars of the day. you may have to add 1-3" of large washers to make up the difference By a bag of them at your local home store that fit the center screw stud. then unscrew one of the spring jaws and fill the shaft with some washers and reassemble keep adding until you can compress the spring without letting the center screw shaft bottom out.

it will make sense when you start adding the washers.

Hey,sounds good n make sense. I'll give it a try. Thanks

I use the same compressor. Drop it in with the threaded rod pointing up through the upper shock hole. Then you can use a wrench between the coils to turn the "bolt". It's kind of a butt pain but it works. Holding the arms to the bolt body with some rubber bands make life easier too.

Oh good! It's not just me!

The couple of times I have had to do this I was always wondering what was wrong with me.

I think droptop73 and I do it the same.

I put the hooks on the bottom of the spring and the threaded rod up through the shock tower. I left the shock mounting plate in place and put a washer on there instead of the upper hooks. Then you compress it into the shock tower. It worked for me but always makes me nervous... Lose up the A frame bolts before you start (just a little) so you are not in there with you hands cranking on stuff. If that spring lets loose, it could get UGLY.

To pull my springs out I bought a pair of compressors off eBay the same as the ones in the picture below. I needed to cut 2 inches off the screws so they wouldn't hit the top of the tower.

These can be a real pain because of the amount of turns the screws need to compress the spring, but I found a better way, and that was to apply the compressors to the spring while the car is still sitting on it's wheels. Using a bit of dexterity you can put each compressor on the spring with the wheel still on, putting the top clamps over the highest coil you can reach and the bottom clamp over the lowest coil and doing the screws up finger tight - then when you jack the car up the springs are already in their compressed state and no (or only a little) turning of the screws is required. This still may not be quite enough compression to get the spring out freely, so you can gain a bit more movement out of the control arm by undoing the three ball joint bolts and use a jemmy bar to lift the control arm just high enough to pull the wheel spindle out of the way and this will drop the control arm probably enough to pull the spring out.

i bought a spring compressor from one of the big non change part stores around here and i had to use 3 realy big nuts tha ts spacing it about 2 inches at minimum. and on top of that, i had to cut 1.5 inches off the bottom of the shaft.

I changed the springs today and a friend gave me some great advice.

The fastest and easiest way to do the job is to pull the coils up to the shock tower instead of compressing them.



As soon as the coil frees the upper control arm you unbolt the upper control arm (two screws inside engine bay) and flip it towards you, spindles and all.

That way the coil is free and you simply release it and pull it out towards the bottom.



Reinstalling the coils is the same in reverse. With the upper control arm out of the way, you pull the new spring up into the shock tower until it is high enough to allow the upper control arm to be bolted on again and then you release the coil until it rests in its final position.

I tried both versions. On the passenger side I compressed the coil until it is short enough to pull it out without unbolting the upper control arm first.

On the driver´s side I tried the second version by unbolting the upper control arm and it took me only half as long to remove and reinstall the coils!!!

Give it a try!

Yep. Much easier to pull up into the shock tower. Safety is a priority. make sure the threads are good on the puller. Also, break the upper control arm bolts free before you start so that you are not really torquing on something while that compressor is under tension.

Someone suggested starting while the car is on the ground. That just makes me nervous. But I am overly cautious as a rule of thumb.

Nice tip Mike.

That is a good tip for a different way to do the springs; probably deserves a thread of its own!

Guys,

I had the same issues with my installation of the front coil springs due to the type of spring compressor. I researched it and found instructions on how to build one. Look at this web site, www.dazecars.com and you can learn how to build or buy one. I am sure you will be glad you did. It is a very simple tool that works well and more importantly safely !!!

Thanks, Jay

Guys,

I had the same issues with my installation of the front coil springs due to the type of spring compressor. I researched it and found instructions on how to build one. Look at this web site, www.dazecars.com and you can learn how to build or buy one. I am sure you will be glad you did. It is a very simple tool that works well and more importantly safely !!!

Thanks, Jay

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I actually like the dazecars ball joint removal tool...never thought of putting something between the ball joints. You don's suppose you could pop a spindle that way?

For those of us without welders, or whose welding ability is equal to our spray painting abilities, I am able to quickly compress the spring using 4.5" of washers on the internal spring compressor. I do use ratchet wrench with compressed air. I do not have to remove the upper control arm.

Next time I perform this operation(sometime after getting my engine in) I will take photos.

4.5"....sounds familiar.

I use small ring clamps next to each hook to keep it from sliding up on the coil. Ditto on the washers.

I use small ring clamps next to each hook to keep it from sliding up on the coil. Ditto on the washers.

Click to expand...

The hooks do want to slide up the coil....now that I know what a ring clamp is,



it is off to Harbor Freight. Hope they have them.