Just need to Vent

[berner]

Originally Posted by Bowtie-Bri

.....I'm also trying to figure out how I'm going to remove the front coil springs without the engine in. I figure it would be alot easier to remove the upper and lower "A" arms so I can replace the 40 year old bushings.

You can wrap a chain around the underside of your floor jack and over the top of the frame. The frame won't go up when you raise the floor jack.

[Hank70SS]

Removing the springs is easy. You can use Berner's method if there is not enough weight on the front end. Disconnect the lower ball joint, support the lower a-arm with the floor jack. You may have to remove the backing plate because the lower part of the spindle, around the ball joint, sticks into a slot in the backing plate. Swing the spindle out of the way and lower the jack, jack stand under frame. Once the a-arm is all the way down give the spring a swift kick , or just grab hold of it and pull it out, it's not under tension. I wrestled with a spring compressor on one side then realized you can pop the spring in and out by hand once the a-arm is all the way down.

EDIT: Maybe it's the a-arm that sticks through the backing plate. Anyway if you're replacing all 4 bushings you can disconnect either ball joint to start with or both.

[shadowgray396]

Never used a spring compressor on mine, used a steel rod through the shock mount hole and a couple of blocks of wood under the lower arm

http://s777.photobucket.com/albums/y...Compressor.jpg

http://s777.photobucket.com/albums/y...nRightSide.jpg

http://s777.photobucket.com/albums/y...compressor.jpg

[Ms Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Bowtie-Bri

Anytime you work on a car, its always seems to go "One step forward, Two steps back". At least thats how it works for me. Call it Murphys law.

I think we should change it from "Murphy's Law" to:

"Classic Car owners Law"
or in my case
"Chevelle's Law"