ALOT. The only thing I could imagine being worse is having to put them back in. Thank god for coilovers.
I've done um on the lift with a transmission jack and I've done them on the ground. On the ground isn't bad, I leave the ball joint on and jack under the control arm removing the two big bolts instead of the ball joint.
Ditto. Just GTFO of the way lol. Putting them in, especially new ones, is a flipping nightmare without compression tools.
Did mine on the ground with two spring compressors on each spring. First time doing them, also used a chain to strap them to the a-arm, I guess I was just too afraid to get near them so I was doing everything from afar, had to jack the a-arm up like a time and keep compressing the spring, I was being super cautious. Once I got them off the bolt that goes through the spring compressor had a nice solid curve in it, thought I was going to lose an arm while taking it off. Oh yea trying to do front suspension without air tools=impossible.
I use jack stands like i'm supposed to under the frame and use a jack under the control arm.
I unbolt the strut bolt on top and everything drops. (onto a jack of course) Use the jack to raise everything too. Top bolt keeps spinning on the strut?
Well then clamp the strut rod with a vise grip over a tripple wrapped shop rag.
It's pretty easy. Removing the bottom 2 bolts on the strut makes everything unnecessarily difficult.
I unbolt the strut bolt on top and everything drops. (onto a jack of course) Use the jack to raise everything too. Top bolt keeps spinning on the strut?
Well then clamp the strut rod with a vise grip over a tripple wrapped shop rag.
It's pretty easy. Removing the bottom 2 bolts on the strut makes everything unnecessarily difficult.
I just did this a couple of weeks ago. I think I wept in my sleep before it was all over. Tried to drop the a-arm but the front bolt seized in the metal sleeve. It would spin inside the bushing but wouldn't come out. Finally had to resort to using the torch. Make sure your steering rack is out of the way too! I still whimper when I think about it. Shouldn't have been that hard.
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i didnt have any problem getting my stockers out this last spring, but getting the new b-springs in......omfg, the first side i wanted to shoot myself until i figured out how to get the stupid autozone rental compressor to work right, and then my damn jack was too small (all i have is a craftsman mini floor jack, great for getting under the lowered car, but cant get the thing high enough to be useful sometimes). took a couple hours a night for like a week to get that first side in, then i figured out you dont gotta compress it all the way, but just enough to get it to sit in the pocket, and a couple thicker washers under the hex part of the compressor help too, oh and point it the right way.
the other side took like an hour to get the old one out, and the new one in, strut and all
the other side took like an hour to get the old one out, and the new one in, strut and all
Yea I did mine with hand tools as well, I was really talking about the nut on top of the strut.
I bought a compression tool from work, cut the studs so that it would be as easy as possible to get em in.
I have the correct Ford style spring compressor, not too bad of a job at all. Prior to purchasing the tool, I had tried the method of taking the A Arms free but like someone else mentioned above the bolts were completely frozen in the sleeves.