MFE method WILL NOT WORK

Mustang_Punk

Founding Member
Jan 15, 2002
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Sac, Ca
I got some 4cyl springs as well as strange struts for my car.

The struts were a breeze, the springs however are a nightmare.

I have tried EVERYTHING that I read while searching, the MFE, compressors, crowbars, praying...ect.

I broke the compressor, when I try MFE the control arm will not stay straight, the crowbar just pops the bottom back out, I gave up today after 4 days of trying, I have to have the car on the road by monday for school and I just don't know what to do
 
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The MFE method takes a little bit of finesse but works quite well. Post up more specifically about what issue you had with it. The cool thing about it is that you can use some pretty tall springs and still not have issues with needing to pry them in or out.

Good luck.
 
I am having a few problems with the MFE method;

1. When I raise the control arm the jack wants to slide back, I can hold it with my boot though.

2. The arm will not raise straight, it wants to come out cause of the spring, at first I didnt have the steering arm connected ant it came out way worse, I am a little worried about the strut bending.

3. The few times the arm did raise straight up it would move the ears to the sides.

4. Before the ears get within 1 inch of the holes the car raises off the jack stands

I think I need a bottle jack

Nobody will band the springs

I am about to cut the stockers to fit and try driving it to a shop, but i know they won't install springs I didn't buy from them
 
and the arm won't move sideways?

Two floor jacks located front to back (parallel length-wise) with the car and the arm will not move sideways, the key is two floor jacks, I just used this method and had the same concerns and was very pleased with how easy the arm came down.

Two floor jacks, front to back, lower alternately 1"
 
I've never done the two-jack method so Andy will have to talk more about that.
If you go back to doing it with one jack and have problems, I can probably help.

Good luck.
 
I just went through this the other day. The MFE method was the only method that worked for me. Still took a few hours though. The passenger side went in easy but the drivers side didnt. I only used 1 big floor jack.

For the drivers side we had to beat on the a-arm a bunch to get it up in the pocket to put the bolts in. Had to put one bolt in, put a jack stand under the arm, then move the floor jack location so I could get the other bolt in.

The only way to do it with a spring compressor is to use the correct ford tool, all of the autozone/advance ones don't work.

You don't need bottle jacks to do this. I ended up trying a few different locations of the floor jack though.
 
I reinstalled my stock springs using MFE's method after replacing the A arm bushings and granted, it was a bit tough. I ended up using a bottle jack I got for $15 and the jack that came on my wife's Yukon along with my floor jack. I had to kick and pry the A arm to keep the ears located between the chassis mounting points as I raised it up. It took me about 1-2 hours complete on each side to get the springs reinstalled. I too had the car lifting off the stands, but I was able to get it to eventually work.

And to top it all off, after I did it the first time using new poly spring isolators, it raised the car WAAAAAY too much and I had to remove them again to ditch the isolators! I spent way too much time on it, but at least I didn't spend any $$$$ on it!

Good luck!
 
did you use a bottle jack? it seems like that would be better since the floor jack raises at an angle

I use a floor jack with a decent side pad on it (where the LCA sits on the jack). I go in from the front corner of the car (right inbetween being longitudinal or transverse; aka diagonal). This gives me the ability to move the jack towards the center of the car (indirectly) and keep the jack from really wanting to scoot back-out once I started cranking on the LCA. I just keep the handle real low to try and keep any harm from happening to the body if the jack were to want to rocket backwards (I try to keep the jack braced at all times anyhow).

The idea with jackstands doesnt sound too bad - they might catch the LCA if the jack tried to slide out. My jack is pretty good sized - I dont think I'd have had room.



Good luck.
 
nope, dosen't work, the arm will not jack up straight at all, it keeps coming back towards me and no matter how hard I push (and im a big guy) the arm will not go anywhere near the holes.

If they just didn't have to go in at an angle...

This is infuriating (however you spell it)
 
I'm sorry to hear that.

You can do a mishmash effort with an internal spring compressor (been there, done that, which is why I like the MFE method so much). For an internal compressor that you loan-out from the parts house, I had to use a shim under the head of center bolt (to keep the bolt from hitting the frame before compressing the spring, or in this case, being able to install the spring). And since the springs are uncompressed when you insert the butterflies, you might need to to unbolt the butterflies once the spring is installed in the car (because you didnt' insert the butterflies with the spring compressed, they end up in bad places). Not a real biggie but I found it tedius (I'm also a big guy with big hands).

I hope that kinda made sense. I've tried quite a few things with springs.

Good luck.
 
I use 2 or 3 jacks. One jack under each bushing. And maybe one jack under the ball-joint. Yea, it SUCKS!

Get an sn95 and lowered springs, and you take the strut off, yank out the old spring, and push in the new spring (smaller and lower), put strut back on, and LAUGH YOUR *** of at the Fox owners! :D

FWIW: I found that using the OTC ~$400 tool kinda "helps". But, the spring will always bend (front/back or left/right) and that makes it harder to line up the a-arm with the f-frame.
 
I always left the control arm bolts in. Lowered the arm as far as it would go and still be able to catch the spring on the perch and then pried them into the catch on the perch with a bar. Always takes a few tries but always worked for me. Once you get it on the catch it's a test of strength because you gotta hold the bar tight with one arm to hold the spring in and jack up the control arm with the other. Unless you have an extra hand around , that's even better.
 
I take it from reading here, that the MFE method is to completely remove the A arm, put it on a jack, put the spring on it, line it up, then jack the arm up into the strut tower until you can get the bolts into the k memeber and the strut into the camber plate? Or maybe I'm not understanding it right.

If it's not working for you, an idea...

If you have a way to compress the spring off the car, and autozone etc. stuff will work for this, get it compressed alot, then use a comealong ratchet type strap on the spring, but grab it inside the outer coils, and pull that thing as tight as you can. Not one of those 1 inch wide pansy thing, but the real ones you'd find in a uhaul truck or something. Slowly release the spring compressor and the comealongs will hold the spring compressed without being bulkier than hell and getting in the way. Leave the inner bolts on the A arm bolted in, but unbolt the tie rod ends and the strut from the strut tower, allow the A arm to hang down. Stick the spring in there, and jack the A arm back up until you can get the strut bolt in and a nut on the top, then you can release the comealong.
 
I take it from reading here, that the MFE method is to completely remove the A arm, put it on a jack, put the spring on it, line it up, then jack the arm up into the strut tower until you can get the bolts into the k memeber and the strut into the camber plate? Or maybe I'm not understanding it right.

In the MFE method (it's an old method that works well for many suspension styles, but in mustangland has been named after Mr Elliott), you pivot the LCA by the BJ/strut rather than the LCA bolts. The strut (still attached) acts like a large pivot and allows one to install 4x4 springs without much issue (unlike what happens when you unbolt the ball joint and have to pry springs in and out. See Joe's musings about that in few posts earlier).

As for leaving the LCA bolts attached and using them as a pivot: I had vert springs for a long time and there was no way I was ever comfy with giving 'em a twang to get them out of the LCA perch upon removal (and they simply wont go back in with that method).

In the old days, some shops would compress and band springs for people. I think morons have caused that to fall out of favor.