I picked up one of those expensive Harbor Freight internal spring compressors, canned everything but the lower hook portion because it was already offset for the coil's spiral and used the 5/8" thread stock method.
I double nutted one end of the thread stock and then tacked the end nut to the thread stock with the welder so I didn't have to worry about them spinning off, then I put on two large flat washers (slathered with heavy grease) and then the hook.
I then ran the this assembly up through the spring and up through the tower again dropping two heavily greased flat washers over the thread stock and winding two nuts (tacked together and matched to the treads) down onto them.
My reasoning for the double nuts welded together was to have more threads pulling reducing the chances of the threads stripping and the whole shooting match flying back out of the tower.
I also had a heavy duty ratchet type load binder strap pulling in-board from the opposite side just in case things suddenly came free to contain the spring.
The nice thing about the strap is that it takes up virtually no space between the coils when they're compressed.
As soon as I had the tension just barely off the lower A-arm, I put the floor jack under it for safety's sake and then loosened the lower ball joint nut only about two full turns. I then backed the lower spindle ear with a heavy hammer and belted the opposite side with another heavy hammer until it dropped free but held in place by the ball joint nut.
Then it was a matter of dropping the A-arm out of the way and slowly backing off on the thread stock.
I was surprised at how easy the thread stock compressed the spring, but I'll tell you that I was guarding myself against that spring busting free at any second so I made good and sure that I was working from the back side of the potential path the spring would take "if" it decided to take a ride on me.
The lower A-arms on my 68 had alignment holes to visually verify that the end of the coil was positioned correctly, does C-2s have this? Just curious.
Good luck and be safe,
Chuck 32205
I double nutted one end of the thread stock and then tacked the end nut to the thread stock with the welder so I didn't have to worry about them spinning off, then I put on two large flat washers (slathered with heavy grease) and then the hook.
I then ran the this assembly up through the spring and up through the tower again dropping two heavily greased flat washers over the thread stock and winding two nuts (tacked together and matched to the treads) down onto them.
My reasoning for the double nuts welded together was to have more threads pulling reducing the chances of the threads stripping and the whole shooting match flying back out of the tower.
I also had a heavy duty ratchet type load binder strap pulling in-board from the opposite side just in case things suddenly came free to contain the spring.
The nice thing about the strap is that it takes up virtually no space between the coils when they're compressed.
As soon as I had the tension just barely off the lower A-arm, I put the floor jack under it for safety's sake and then loosened the lower ball joint nut only about two full turns. I then backed the lower spindle ear with a heavy hammer and belted the opposite side with another heavy hammer until it dropped free but held in place by the ball joint nut.
Then it was a matter of dropping the A-arm out of the way and slowly backing off on the thread stock.
I was surprised at how easy the thread stock compressed the spring, but I'll tell you that I was guarding myself against that spring busting free at any second so I made good and sure that I was working from the back side of the potential path the spring would take "if" it decided to take a ride on me.
The lower A-arms on my 68 had alignment holes to visually verify that the end of the coil was positioned correctly, does C-2s have this? Just curious.
Good luck and be safe,
Chuck 32205
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