I HATE FRONT COIL SPRINGS heh. god i can't get this sucker in for some reason. its just a regular 86 GT spring im putting in my 90 lx. Is there any suggestions as to how to get this mother ****er in. Ive tried two different compressors and both of them i have to compress so much that the threads go passed the spring and hit the frame so i can't get it in. I had some guy come over one time and do this in like 2 mins and ive tried for like i say a total of 8 hours and i still can't get the ****er in lol. any tips on how to get this piece of **** in?! let me know thanks! (btw, its the front left spring if that matters)
i did mine in a strange way. i used a normal spring compressor but i installed it from the inside of the coil. it had it set to where i can barely get it out. i disassembled it while inside and just let everything fall apart to the ground. just dont attach the clip to the top of the spring, use the ring below it or one more under. on my eibach springs, i had to cut 1 ring off to make it fit.
I did my struts and manual rack at the same time and never used a compressor. Undo the outer tierod, undo the top strut bolt and lower a-arm w/ the jack slowly swap springs jack it back and bolt it all back together. Probably have to mess with the brakes a lil bit too, i did it awhile ago.
I've got it down to a science. About 20-30 minutes a side.
Just take the wheel off, put a jack stand under the frame, use the jack under the inside of the A arm, take the bolts out, let down slow, remove spring, and jack a new one up in it's place, it will bend itself. Reinstall bolts.
It is a little more dangerous this way, but saves major time.
i got some large air conditioning tie straps, compressed the springs out of the car, then bound them with about 4 or 5 straps, losened compressors and shoved them in. i had your same problem, hitting before you get it in. just disconnect the strut, and tie rod end. this may not be the safest way, but i had no problems, and took about 30-35 minutes per side. i had not heard of disconnecting the a-arm at the time, but have heard many people suggest it. good luck
ah got the mother ****er in , and i used the normal spring compressor, guess i was just compressing it wrong because i was able to do the spring in like 30 minutes. this means my suspension is finally done, after the car has been sitting on jackstands for 2 years. **** yeah!
sorry im kinda excited about it heh. now all i need to do is put in an engine and tranny, and this beast is ready to roll
Cool glad you got it in. Yeah its a pain if you've not done it before, i just finished my front setup yesterday (first time) and it was a pain. Really it would not have been that bad if i had all the tools to begin with but i ended up trying 3 different compressors before getting it figured out. Internal compressor>external compressor big time. I had the problem of the rod hitting also but we used a piece of pipe as a spacer at the bottom. To anyone planning on doing it, and is afraid of doing it without a compressor, make sure you get the internal one, and a good one that you can get in and out of the spring easily. Now that i've done it before, i could probably do it again in an hour, but dont plan on doing it again lol.
-GM