Well That new coil spring compressor I bought at Carlisle last week almost got the best of me today. I took off of work early to come home and take my entire front end off to upgrade to the new discs. I already had the car on stands and the wheels off. Also already had the spring covers removed so this should go smoothly and be quick, Yeah Right! Played with it for three hours no luck. Off to Home Depot to look and see what I can buy to modify the damn thing to work. Bought two 1/8 thick plates 6" long by 1.1/2 wide plus a 5/8 washer. Got home drilled a 5/8 hole in the plates. Dropped the compressor back in the hole after installing the plate on the rod. Set the plate across the top of the shock tower and cranked away. I got the spring compressed enough to remove the upper arm. As I unwinded the spring it decompressed into the frame and I couldn't get it loose. I reassembled the compressor in its original state and once again commenced to compress the spring but this time the upper arm wasn't in the way. As I decompressed the spring for a second time I had my hand in the fender to catch the spring so it would fall and hit my nice newly paint fender. It came loose from the compressor and got my finger (still hurts but still works) my finger that is. I now after the fact did a search on this web site to see how you guys were doing it. I had to laugh after finding out Im not alone in this much hated task. The plates bent but held on. On to the other side tomorrorw. Im not sure how Im ever gonna get em back in but Ill worry about that in a few weeks from now. Im gonna clean and finish painting the aprons, glass bead the upper arms and make a decission on what type of spring seats to buy. later ...
Go borrow a spring compressor from AutoZone or Advance before you knock off your head instead of you finger. To remove the spring complete put the plate on the bottom. To compress the spring to remove UCA put the plate on the top of the shock tower
If you bought the one with the hooks at each end, they suck unless you do some simple modifications. You have to shave 1/8" of each end of the hooks. I also put a slight arc in the ends, kinda to match the shape of the hole. This will allow it to almost drop right in through the top. Then you need to reverse the way it threads. You want to have the free spinning hook on the bottom and the threaded hook on top. To keep the bottom hook from falling off, weld a nut on the end of the shaft. After these mods, the thing works like a dream. Before I drop mine in the top of the shock tower, I pull the bottom hook up and collapse the arms against the rod so they are just above the welded nut. Then put a zip tie on to hold them in place. The tool will now drop right in and you can easily cut the zip tie once its at the bottom. One last thing, NEVER use a impact gun on them. The hammering effect will rip the threads out at the worst possible time. Had this happen to me.
Thanks for the pics guys. Ill be tackling reinstalling the new springs in another week or two with all new suspension. Dennis your welcome to come on up and show me your expertise in this field. LOL ... Im not sure if you install the upper arms first and then fish in the collaped spring or put the spring in first, collapes it and then bolt in the upper arm with the saddle installed on it. Any thoughts ??? We need a tech article with lots of pics for this job. Dennis also can you post any pics of what you are talking about? Thanks guys ... Bob
I always have the a arms in place when removing or installing springs. I"ll get some pics up on my set up. As far as coming up, I'd love to if I had the time. The next 5 weekends are already spoken for.
The repair manual says to compress the spring then remove A arm but I don't. (The book also says you have to take the tire off to replace a front shock but I don’t.) The reason I put the plate on the bottom is to help me align the spring on to the spring perch when it is being un-compressed. It's impossible to twist the spring into position when it’s being pushed against the top of the shock tower. See http://1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/suspension_01.html#E
Thanks for the advise guys. I'll be revisiting this post again in about two weeks when it will be ready to go back together. Dennis I hope we can meet up again at Sunny Side Farms for the all Ford show this year. Also maybe some of the other guys can come. Hopefully I'll be rolling by then ... Thanks ... Bob
the one i use goes completely in the spring, but requires almost half of the threaded shaft to be cut off in order to be short enough (i must have bought one for lifted trucks?) also it slips and loses the spring, right when you least expect it im thinking i may rent the one they used when i work on the comet or if i ever change the perches again on the grabber.
Well I finally got the front end back together and installed on the car this weekend. Other than breaking off a grease fitting it went very well, UNTIL the dreaded coil springs !!! I worked on trying to compress them and get them in the correct position for almost three hours. (actually not them just one) Gave up, put every thing away and took the wife out to dinner. Im going to tackle it again this weekend with a rented compressor from Auto Zone. It will look like the ones you guy have pictured above. Any hints on how to first proceed with this pain in the @$$ job. I think the treaded shaft on my compressor is to short and won't compress enough coils. Any way here are the pictures of the front aprons cleaned and painted with the new control arms and knuckles. I also bought the roller bearing spring perches from ebay, probably overkill for my application but whats a few more bucks when your into the restoration this far.
With the correct tool it want be that bad. It won’t be a picnic either. When releasing the compressor...guiding the lower end of the spring onto the perch. The end of the spring's coil must be no more than 1/2 in. from the tab on the perch. Notice I cut one coil off the spring that is compressed...the other coil got it's picture taken before it got cut. It takes a minute or 10 of wrenching to remove the compressor working through the coils so sit down and make yourself at home.
This is what I used. I rented from Advance auto parts, I had no issues it all! Piece of cake with this one! Advance's web site don't have a pic of it but that's the same in this pic. http://www.stockwiseauto.com/Performance-Tool-Strut-Coil-Spring-Compressor/M/B000NHWP8U.htm
