Front coil springs

So after fighting the coil springs with a local loan-a-tool spring compressor today, I opted to just order the one recommended in so many threads here that mounts to the perch where the shock bolts to.  The one that I had today has the hooks and no matter where I positioned them, they seemed to keep slipping during the compression and even though the front portion of the coil was off the perch, the rear portion did not come off of it much and I could not rotate the spring at all. After sitting in an open field though for so many years, I am sure it is just plain stuck due to rust and corrosion. 

I have new upper and lower control arms, all new stabilizer bar bushings, etc and will be rust free in this area real soon.

Tom

Good choice and solution.

Yes good choice. I purchased one and it is great.

Yes a coil spring is nothing to take lightly. If I recall right you need to compress the spring about 4" to be able to get it out. The compressor with just the hooks has been know to come loose when taking the compressor out and the spring launch into orbit. Could easily kill you.

You should also block the upper control arm from dropping all the way down to prevent damage to the strut rod bushings and the upper shock mount bushings. Should be info on making the tool or I just use wood blocks on top of frame rail under the control arm.

I took my springs out by just taking the 2 nuts off of the upper control arms and work it outward carefully, that's easy. Hard part part is to put them back in, I used a spring compressor (loaner) that is the newer style that goes through the center of the spring, if that makes sense. + 1 on the wood blocks under the upper control arms, I use 1x4" pieces of oak.

Thanks all for your input, my new spring compressor will be here tomorrow morning and I have all new upper and lower control arms, tie rods, sway bar bushings, and strut arm bushings to install. Going to soak the tie rod collars in some type of cleaning fluids as well as the strut rods and springs to clean them up real good before I do the install. Should have everything taken apart by tomorrow afternoon and reinstall on Sunday. Got all new Moog components so things should last awhile.

While I am at it, I may box the lower control arms, any thoughts on this?

Tom

When putting the springs back in, is it best to install the upper control arm first, then compress the spring or compress the spring first and then put the arm in place? I ask because when removing, the compressor instructions said to only compress enough until the perch came off of the arm, then remove the arm before removing the spring. Maybe I am overthinking or over stressing this as I hate working on coil springs but when I compressed the spring earlier and tried to put the control arm in, it wouldn't line up enough to get the arm in place to bolt down. The compressor instructions said to not over compress the springs, and I was concerned about that maybe. Thanks for any advice.

Tom

That would be the quickest way to do it , compress spring then install upper control arm.

I take it they are for a small block, don't worry about compressing them too much to get them installed.

Yea, the moans and groans that sounded like they were coming from the springs when compressing them had me concerned . I have the compressor that bolts to the perch but still hate working on springs. Will probably give it another shot tomorrow night after work, thanks for the response.

Tom

Yep the coil spring job sure makes the cheeks pucker!

I used an internal hook type compressor but used it where the threaded center comes up through the shock tower so i could get enough compression to install.  Of course that had be turning the bolt through the coils.  Been a while, glad that job is over.

Good Luck!

kcmash

i totally agree with the above with the internal one. when i did my '66 fairlane i tried the outer style with no luck. rented the inner and worked just fine.. now that said please do yourself a favor and do ONE side at a time. i found on the fairlane the A arms are a little different from side to side. don't know of our stangs are like that but just be careful as a heads up.

I bought this Snap On compressor back in the 90's and it has been worth every penny. They come up used on eBay fairly frequently for about half the price.

https://store.snapon.com/MacPherson-Coil-Spring-Compressors-Compressor-Coil-Spring-P636009.aspx

I usually put it the fork on top of the shock tower and compress the spring that way. No drama, no worries.

I honestly don't trust those compressors that bolt onto the spring perch, especially when it looks like they are using all-thread from the local hardware store....

Question was asked about boxing the lower arms. If you were to put a GoPro camera under the car and video how they twist when doing hard turns braking and such you won't believe how weak they are.

I am going to be working on a track days car but do not want to blow lots of money on coil overs or welded tube arms and will be boxing mine. I will probably put a couple pieces of 4140 tube inside the formed channel and weld and then cap.

Hope your new suspension parts come correct. I just put some on and of course the last thing I was doing was to install the grease fittings. Boom one of the ball joints did not have the hole taped and it seems to be hard I could not tap it. They were MOOG.

I put some RTV over the hole.

Boxing the LCA's is easy and makes a huge difference.

Here is the link I posted on it. cost me $30 and a little time.

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-lca-stiffener-plates?highlight=lca

I have an internal spring compressor that is hanging in my garage from when I rebuilt my front suspension. if I ever use it again, it'll be too soon. No finger loss or facial disfigurement, but the pucker factor was off the scale............... :wrench: :wrench:

I found out what was giving me such a hard time installing the upper control arm while the spring was compressed, the new Moog control arm mounting bolts were off position a little and wouldn't let them line up correctly with the holes.  Yesterday I got up early, started on the driver's side spring with compressing it, I guess the extra grease I put on the compressor threads really helped because I had no issues compressing the spring up high enough to install the control arm. Then I found that the arm  bolts were shorter than stock but still did not come through the wall enough. Pulled it out and saw some witness marks on one of the holes. Ok, then I used a step bit to enlarge the hole slightly and bam, everything fit perfect. Had to do the same for the passenger side as well.  Installed everything, and felt pretty good about myself and then installed my new Willwood Disc Brake conversion kit.  Now onto changing out the rag joint on the steering.  BTW, I ended up installing the Moog lower control arms without the reinforcement plate, because the plates didn't make it here on time, another project for another weekend. Thanks all for your advice.  





Tom

Nice job, looks good.

Which recommended spring are you using? Replacing springs and lower control arms

Toms71

I used the stock springs but changed out the upper and lower control arms, the strut rod bushings, and the inner and outer tie rods. Got Moog parts from RockAuto.com and also ordered the KYB front shocks from them as well. The spring compressor I used is the inner type that bolts to the spring perch where the shock normally bolts to.

Tom