C2 Front Spring Removal

[William G.]

Greetings.

I'm in need of replacing the front lower control arm (A arm) bushings. The upper A arms are a snap to restore, obviously. The lower A arms.....not so much. I'm having a real struggle getting my spring compressor up inside the spring as the opening in the A arm is quite small but, although I've done this on a '68 I owned many years ago, a bigger problem is manipulating the compressor parts once they are inside the coil. I've read on this forum, I believe, that someone has used a threaded rod in place of the rod/bolt of a standard spring compressor, and one of the "finger hooks" of the compressor. I would not attempt this with a hardware store "all thread" and hence I've purchased an ASTM Grade B7 threaded rod. The B7 spec puts the tensile strength (125,00 psi) about mid point between the SAE Grade 5 and Grade 8 specs. I'm confident that this B7 material would be adequate but I'm still acting on the side of caution--coil springs, obviously, store a huge amount of energy.

The thread on the forum stated, as I recall, to pass the threaded rod up through the spring and through the hole for the upper shock mount--attached with an ASTM Grade B7 washer and nut. The lower leverage point is to attach one of the two "finger hooks" of the standard spring compressor to the lower portion inside of the coil spring. So.........here's the question: The upper A arm attachment point and the upper shock mount area of the front cross member are not under anywhere near the stress that the frame spring pocket and lower A arm pocket are--hence,will the welds attaching the three legs of the outer end of the cross member to the top of the frame stand the necessary force. More simply stated, is this a safe attachment point to use to compress the spring?

Thanks for the help.

[Ed S.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Yes, many springs have been removed using this method without any problems.

Good luck.

[Thomas N.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

William
Yes the upper shock mount is strong enough, to answer your question.
If you are going through the trouble of buying a piece of threaded rod, if you make a block you can eliminate the use of the coil spring compressor, and remove/install the spring with the lower a-arm. Advantages of this approach is, you will not scratch up your springs, instead of compressing with two point contacts (both out of plane because of the spring pitch), the spring will not hook when tightening, and the spring is seated around the entire pocket of the lower and upper a-arms, so you are applying even force on the entire spring surfaces, just like what happens when you go over a bump. I did a video showing this approach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0COGAbOdi0

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, just show options.

[Robert P.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

I used the method That Tom is talking about a few weeks back and had no issues and felt completely safe and no scratching of the parts
Bob

[Garry B.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Tom, I have watched your video before and found it to be very informative. I have two questions for you. You state "make a block" for the lower a-arm and cover it with tape so it won't scratch the paint. What do you suggest the block be made of? Secondly, have you ever used this process on a Corvette that has it's body on and engine in? Access for your tightening wrench is great when only doing the chassis. How about on a fully assembled car? Thanks. Garry

[Robert P.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Gary, my motor was in and body was back on when i did mine , a little tight with the wrench but doable
regards Bob

[Jack H.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Tom, I have watched your video before and found it to be very informative. I have two questions for you. You state "make a block" for the lower a-arm and cover it with tape so it won't scratch the paint. What do you suggest the block be made of? Secondly, have you ever used this process on a Corvette that has it's body on and engine in? Access for your tightening wrench is great when only doing the chassis. How about on a fully assembled car? Thanks. Garry

The material is "CRS", which is Cold Rolled Steel. I was able to find some scrap pieces of CRS bar stock on eB*y for reasonable prices, but if you've got a local steel supplier nearby, they would probably also have some scrap they would sell cheap.

[Gary B.]

[Garry B.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Great. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Garry

[Patrick B.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

[Gary B.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Patrick,

I use a piece of 1/8” thick rubber sheet between the AL plate and the lower A-arm surface to keep my nicely painted A-arms from being scratched. I do like the bearing idea on the upper end. I just don’t have anything handy, so I use two, super thick (3/16” each) fiat washers with grease between them. The HD nut is 1 1/16” across the flats. I take no chances on anything being too weak when it comes to dealing with suspension springs.

I will never return to using a store bought tool with the fingers that go between the coils.

Gary

6307A***-E1DC-4AB1-B24D-846124531DA4.jpg

[Gerald C.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Bill,

I've removed several springs with the threaded (coarse) rod method. Besides the heavy duty washers and nuts, I used a hockey pucks at each end to prevent scratching. Also, go to Harbor Freight and buy a Ball Joint removal tool for $10.00. Best $10.00 you'll ever spend!

Jerry

Greetings.

I'm in need of replacing the front lower control arm (A arm) bushings. The upper A arms are a snap to restore, obviously. The lower A arms.....not so much. I'm having a real struggle getting my spring compressor up inside the spring as the opening in the A arm is quite small but, although I've done this on a '68 I owned many years ago, a bigger problem is manipulating the compressor parts once they are inside the coil. I've read on this forum, I believe, that someone has used a threaded rod in place of the rod/bolt of a standard spring compressor, and one of the "finger hooks" of the compressor. I would not attempt this with a hardware store "all thread" and hence I've purchased an ASTM Grade B7 threaded rod. The B7 spec puts the tensile strength (125,00 psi) about mid point between the SAE Grade 5 and Grade 8 specs. I'm confident that this B7 material would be adequate but I'm still acting on the side of caution--coil springs, obviously, store a huge amount of energy.

The thread on the forum stated, as I recall, to pass the threaded rod up through the spring and through the hole for the upper shock mount--attached with an ASTM Grade B7 washer and nut. The lower leverage point is to attach one of the two "finger hooks" of the standard spring compressor to the lower portion inside of the coil spring. So.........here's the question: The upper A arm attachment point and the upper shock mount area of the front cross member are not under anywhere near the stress that the frame spring pocket and lower A arm pocket are--hence,will the welds attaching the three legs of the outer end of the cross member to the top of the frame stand the necessary force. More simply stated, is this a safe attachment point to use to compress the spring?

Thanks for the help.

[Gary B.]

[Gerald C.]

Re: C2 Front Spring Removal

Gary,

Yes, hockey pucks. You just need to use large washers to keep the nut from passing through the puck. The washers I used were about 2" across. They work well!

Jerry

[Gary B.]