gettting springs into frontend while out of car (again)

[jake08]

I know there was a lengthy post on this but it got locked.
I have tried spring compressors, cutting down the spring compressors, putting spacers in the spring compressors, long threaded bolts and plates.,
The car is in one piece and driving with its original front end while i am rebuilding the hr unit, so putting it back in the car is not an option.
I am going nuts here the spring has to be slightly bent or angled inward to fit into it's apeture in the lower wishbone, but using a threded rod internally pulls spring in square. if the lower wishbone is fully hard up against the frontend(subframe/crossmember/ insert prefered handle here.) then it becomes closer to being in correct alignment. however this means compressing the spring almost entirely into the tower. I stripped this frontend out of the car so I came across this problem trying to remove the springs. It was easy enough to remove the shocks, break the ball joints and then REEEf the lower wishbones open as someone stated in the other post, at this point there was neglig, neglegabl. BUGGER ALL pressure on the springs, and they just popped out. (yes they appear to be original, and are in fact slightly longer then the ones I am trying to get in now.)
Any ideas fellas?


will post more details once i've been outside and kicked something

[vintageholden]

where do you live???
i,m in carlisle and can come over and help.....

0414066155

[jake08]

thanks for the offers of help guys , much appreciated. I live in ashby. I am going away for a few days so will have another crack when i get back and see where im at.

[vintageholden]

put the rod through the bottom controll arm
and fit the top controll arm and pull the 2 together.

much easyer when on the car....

[EK283]

Yes,
As vintageholden says, put the rod through the bottom wishbone. The spring will straighten as the wishbone closes up to the tower.
Be bloody careful though there's lots of pressure there.

Regards Greg

[jake08]

Went away for the weekend and got visited by the auto fairy- when i got home the spring was in.
I dont think I made my problem clear- I couldnt get the spring seated prior to compressing the lower wishbone . seems you dont need to compress it to seat it - My old man came in to feed the dog while i was away and "just popped it in".

So i guess the answer i was after is:

1. position front end so it's upside down and drop the spring into the bucket.
2. lift spring out slightly (not quite halfway) and push protuding end in and down towards pivot pin, bending/angling the spring slightly so the end of the spring catches on the lug pressed into the lower wishbone.

There is not a great deal of pressure here but enough to hold the spring in. Now you can insert threaded rod through the shock tower/spring and lower wish bone in order to fit stub axle.
Sorry for any confusion guys- sometimes i get hung up on the little details.

[Trev]

Your dad does you a favor and you call him a "fairy", thats not real nice Jake , maybe a quick call to your dad would have been the thing to do when you were getting frustrated and all would have been sweet , Trev .

[jake08]

-

Your dad does you a favor and you call him a "fairy", thats not real nice Jake

Yeah i know Im an ungrateful SOB . sorry mum.

My dad gets plenty of those quick calls, don't worry. I try not to drown him with my cries for help so I've been refering to the forum more and more as of late. He has a soft spot for the early girls but he wont admit it.
Calls them "crap old cars". In his day that's all they were I guess.

[DOLLER]

Sorry for asking a dumb questions but, do you do the reverse to get the original springs out??

[jake08]

They say there are no dumb questions only dumb answers so I'll put this out there.

do you do the reverse to get the original springs out??

Kind of. I'm not advocating this as the best or safest way to do it but when I removed my springs the the f.e. was out of the car with shocks, upper wishbones and stub axles removed. The springs had some slight tension on them (I believe they were stock hr) which was forcing the lower wish bones almost straight down. They couldnt fold back any further because the spring was caught under the lug in the wishbone.
I put it upside down on the ground and reefed the wishbone open far enough to bend the spring and allow the bottom end to slide clear of the lug. The spring then just popped out with enough force to jump out of the tower and fall on the floor. Most of this energy was generated from bending the spring sideways I think -but the potential for injury is still there. Spring compressors would be safer but I found they restricted the movement I needed to get them out Flintstones style.

[DOLLER]

Bit off the subject here but what have people used to paint coil springs?? Is it possible? Would think the paint would crack off with all the "flexing". Bit of a shame to buy new springs just because they are the wrong color!

[jake08]

I got mine powder coated - looking at the above picture I don't think it was money well spent I have used spray packs of gloss kill rust before.