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Yes I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times and I have searched but not found a definitive solution.
Has anyone found a good safe cheap solution for relieving the front coil springs for removal ?
Does anyone have JD 6H or JD 115 or 204-111 that they would be prepared to sell or loan ?.
I'm not prepared to pay the prices being asked by SNG for a tool I will likely only ever use once and the Bosch ****ers won't sell to non trade - but they're less than half the price of the same thing from SNG
I did mine using 4 threaded rods and felt it was as safe as anything else.
Takes a lot of patience cranking up the nuts but I never felt it was dangerous.
I used a tool like this successfully both times I removed the front springs. This version you can remove the hooks which get in the way and just compress the lower plate and above the top spring housing. I would actually put equal length hooks on bottom end (hex) and nothing on the other (top). The issue I had with mine was it wasn't long enough to completely unload it, but it was within an inch, so I used the Jack to finish it, but you need to still get to the hex to release it. I set it on the hooks inside the cup of the Jack and finished spinning the rod out and then lowered with a Jack.
My rod is about 11.5 inches of thread and if seems like 13 or more and you wouldn't need a Jack at all. (I promise this was meant to be PG rated)
I HIGHLY recommend buying a long bolt with only about an inch of thread to put through the plate into the inner most bolt holes of the LCA as you recompress the spring so it lines up as you compress. It is a bear to get the bolts to start otherwise. Then get the other 4 bolts started and replace the long ones with the stock bolts. Locktite them all.
I've removed many springs and still get a little case of heebie-jeebies each time. That said, I've used the four-threaded-rods method many times and feel safe doing so....more safe than some other methods on other cars. It's a little slow...but easily controllable.
I used a tool like this successfully both times I removed the front springs. This version you can remove the hooks which get in the way and just compress the lower plate and above the top spring housing. I would actually put equal length hooks on bottom end (hex) and nothing on the other (top). The issue I had with mine was it wasn't long enough to completely unload it, but it was within an inch, so I used the Jack to finish it, but you need to still get to the hex to release it. I set it on the hooks inside the cup of the Jack and finished spinning the rod out and then lowered with a Jack.
My rod is about 11.5 inches of thread and if seems like 13 or more and you wouldn't need a Jack at all. (I promise this was meant to be PG rated)
I HIGHLY recommend buying a long bolt with only about an inch of thread to put through the plate into the inner most bolt holes of the LCA as you recompress the spring so it lines up as you compress. It is a bear to get the bolts to start otherwise. Then get the other 4 bolts started and replace the long ones with the stock bolts. Locktite them all.
What sort of diameter and length rods are you talking here - didn't I see a post about this somewhere ? - this seems like a pretty solid way to do this if you aren't in a hurry.
Do these rods need to be any specific hardness - I believe 1/2 UNF is the appropriate thread but I can only find this in mild steel so far
What sort of diameter and length rods are you talking here - didn't I see a post about this somewhere ? - this seems like a pretty solid way to do this if you aren't in a hurry.
Do these rods need to be any specific hardness - I believe 1/2 UNF is the appropriate thread but I can only find this in mild steel so far
The spring pan is held in by mild steel bolts so loosening them down threaded rod is not more stressful than driving the car. personally I use this system in conjunction with a substantial metric threaded rod down the middle of the spring fixed with a nut on top of the tower and a plate below the pan. Then if anything does let go, you have a safety backup.
Note: You absolutely MUST have threaded rod in the inner two and one of the middle wishbone holes in order to get the spring pan up in the correct position to rebolt it. A central compressor on its own will not do it.
There's a really good vid of this process here, it seems to save a lot of mucking about with a tool that can't really be justified in a 'domestic' toolbox - not like you need it daily ...
if you haven't removed your sub frame, I jacked it up and put it on stands, took the wheel off and jacked it up under the spring seat undid the nuts and bolts of the pan and let down the jack.. you will probably need to undo a few before jacking as the jack will mask them, put it back up with studs,
In my younger days I'd have probably done that since in your twenties you're immortal or at least feel that way. I have however seen what happens when a spring gets loose - it ain't something I want to get in the proximity of - I already have more years behind than ahead and mother nature is finding all kinds of ways to mess me up without me making a contribution.
I plan to remove and strip a lot of stuff before I drop the subframe simply because it is easier than fighting the thing on the ground so pulling the springs out was one such task. I planned to do this job anyhow, I have a complete bush and ball joint kit for the front and a steering rack service kit not to mention brake disks and caliper work, this should take a fair bit of weight out of the subframe. considering this was already planned anyhow I don't think that dropping off the subframe is so much additional work, it is just an inconvenience I hadn't planned to do this year.
It does also mean that I will be replacing the subframe bushes, mounts and engine mounts also, which are the only things that I don't have for the front ironically.
In my younger days I'd have probably done that since in your twenties you're immortal or at least feel that way. I have however seen what happens when a spring gets loose - it ain't something I want to get in the proximity of - I already have more years behind than ahead and mother nature is finding all kinds of ways to mess me up without me making a contribution.
I plan to remove and strip a lot of stuff before I drop the subframe simply because it is easier than fighting the thing on the ground so pulling the springs out was one such task. I planned to do this job anyhow, I have a complete bush and ball joint kit for the front and a steering rack service kit not to mention brake disks and caliper work, this should take a fair bit of weight out of the subframe. considering this was already planned anyhow I don't think that dropping off the subframe is so much additional work, it is just an inconvenience I hadn't planned to do this year.
It does also mean that I will be replacing the subframe bushes, mounts and engine mounts also, which are the only things that I don't have for the front ironically.
It will do that if the studying thread strip in the lower arms. Not with the jack though
09-13-2020, 06:51 PM
Front Springs
