OMG, don't go trying to just drop the controll arm, the spring will take your head off. You probally won't be able to get the bolt out anyways with the spring's tension. You need a spring compressor that compresses from the inside of the spring. You can proball rent one at a parts store. They are a PITA, but not impossible.
Or the old fasion way, pry down on the control arm and then pop out the spring. Much easier said than done but I have done iit on several stangs. Getting the new one back in can be fun though. Depending on what you are putting on, the best bet is the spring compresser. Just make sure to get one that will work on stangs.
USE a jack under the a-arm....a heavy duty jack(with a long handle), not some spare tire crap, just make sure u lower it slowly and dont STARE at the spring when your doing it. Do u have a helmet laying around?...J/k, ull be fine, no much tension left in it once the front end is off the ground.
Oh yeah, still not to bad, once you get the first one in the second will go MUCH Quicker. I actually use my foot to reinstall them, keeps the fingers out of harms way. But it never works on the first try. The jack under the A-arm is notnecessary when taking the spring out, its going to pop a little no matter what you do. But putting it back in you will need it once you get the spring seated to lift the A-arm back up to hook the strut back up.
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=402286&highlight=spring+install
really good thread about this
really good thread about this
90lxcoupe said:
Did my drag launch kit last weekend. I cut a full coil off and it sits perfect. You may want to do the same.
To get the tie rod off the spindle just whack the spindle with a hammer. Release the castle nut on the tie rod a few threads and then whack the spindle a few good ones. The rod will pop... piece of cake.
I've got the swaybar off my car, so I didn't have to remove it. You'll need the hole that the sway bar mounts to in the a-arm though. Once you lower the a-arm, use a long prybar to push down the arm. At this point, the tension left is minimal. My springs were pretty much siezed into the pocket in the arm. The drivers broke when I went to pry it out of the pocket. I used a jack handle to pry them out. They didn't fly out or anything.
To put them in I used an internal spring compressor. I used both hooks on the bottom of the spring and only one hook on the top, hooked on the backside of the spring. I used a bunch of spacers (nuts) to get the tool to stick out a good couple inches from the bottom. Crank it up good to compress it. Push the a-arm down and use a bar to work the bottom into the pocket. Have a helper jack the a-arm up while you hold the spring in. Once the arm starts coming up, use a bar to push the tool into the hole in the arm. Once you've got the tool guided into the hole, jack it up and do up the strut. Done. It literally took 10 minutes to remove the old spring and put the new one in. Probably another 10 minutes to get the tool out