Greetings, I have the body off and the engine out and am now trying to decide if I should attempt to remove the front coils on my own. There is no more weight on the frame so does that make it easier? Is there a good set of instructions anywhere? Also, the upper arms don't appear to be under load - will they come off without too much trouble? Thanks
Steering & Suspension
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spring compressor to collapse/hold spring before you disconnect ball joint with pickle fork .. without engine weight, the spring will lift car....the upper will come off by removing bolts to frame
I agree. Donot do this without compressing the springs!
OK thanks guys. Decided to call a mobile mechanic and here's what he did. He left the shock attached and then he unbolted the lower ball joint and tapped on the metal frame attaching the ball joint to the front hub and wham, the force of the spring drove the lower control arm down and off the ball joint. Not real sure if that was the safest method but it seemed to work. Then he slacked off the upper shock nut and the spring just popped out. Repeat for the other side. The whole thing took 30 minutes. Having watched that and heard your advice I would be totally comfortable removing the coils with a spring compressor and controling the whole the process rather than letting the spring do the work.
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letting that spring release that force, uncontrolled is not a good idea..shocks can break ... when the engine is in, you can use its weight and a floor jack to let off slowly ..
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