front spring stuck

does it spinn?

wesl56 said:

i have looked at tons of articles about taking the springs out, and it looks like once you get the pressure out of the spring, it shold come right out.. well i have the pressure off of mine, but it is stuck to the bottom A arm.. it wont budge... almost as if its welded in there... anyone else have this happen? how do i get it out? thanks

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when i did mine, it was still a squeeze to get them out. which method are you using? compress spring or unbolt and lower the LCA with a jack?
i assume the former. how are you compressing it? they are tough due to space constraints. i had to use an internal spring compressor (threaded rod with a couple of little arms that grab the coils at the top and bottom of the spring. loaned from autozone. to make it work, i had to unbolt the arms on the compressor, slide them into the coils where i wanted them, and then thread the rod through the boss on the arms (hole where rod threads on). the thing is, you also have to use a piece of scrap pipe as a shim at the base of the rod, or else you will run the rod into stuff before you compress the spring. i used a 1.5" shim pipe (if you dont have a piece of scrap, go to hardware store. around a buck in plumbing).

with mine, i had to pivot the lca almost parallel to the ground to get the spring to clear the perch.

dont take the compressor off til you are reinstalling, or else you will have to fight getting the arms to clear the underbody. not a bad job. i havent read many articles on this, so i apologize if this is redundant with what they say.

and the post above me is right. does it rotate? if the rubber sound deadener (isolator) is missing, it may have melded a bit. a good rap with a swinging press should jar it loose. id recommend getting some new poly replacements, as if the oe's are still in there, they are likely toast.

good luck. give more info and we will help more.

wesl56 said:

ok, here is a pic

pic
the top part is free, there is no pressure on the spring, its jsut that the spring itself is stuck to the A arm an wont come off, ive pried and pried???

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dude, you have got to be kidding. how can it not come out (not bashing you, just amazed )

grab a 4# hammer and beat it like a rented mule. or hook a cable to it and pull. last resort, hook a toe rope to it and hook the other end to a car and drive away. just kiddin.
id just put on some mechanics gloves and manhandle it out. cheap therapy. also, spray some pb or wd in there around the perch. its gotta come out. good luck.

man, what the . . . .that spring should fall right out.

just curious, what year car is that? that A arm is not stock for 87-93. if they are aftermarket A arms, maybe they are just tight and reall need some persuasion. wow. i sure HOPE it's not welded in there, but it's got the factory rubber isolator on there yet. you never know, there's some weird people out there.

Very odd. Mine broke when I pried 'em out. They were a little rusty