DIY front spring r&r

I've been reading other forums about this. Half say it's easy and safe, half say anyone is stupid for trying it at home.
What are your thoughts and experience? (on a g body specifically please)

Thanks,

 

steve it can be a little on the dangerous side. i did mine when i went from a sbc to the 455 in my regal. i did mine by removing the shock. putting the spring compressor up through the middle, taking off the tention and dropping the lower control arm. wasnt bad to take apart, now putting the new 307 springs in was a bit of a struggle. i had to compress them down pretty far to get them back in the car and had to use some pry bars to do it. and the spring compressors can be pretty dangerous. if you car is running and road worthy i would almost say its worth the time and money to take it in somewhere and have them swapped. but mine was motorless when i did it. it is definatly possible to do it at home on the ground. but would be alot easier up in the air on a lift. im sure others may have different opions then me but thats my 2 cents. dan

 

I replaced the springs on my Regal the same way V8Regalowner did but instead of pry bars I used a ratchet come along attached to the opposite side of the frame on one side and a rope tided on the lower end of the spring on the other side, ratchet pulled the spring right into the lower control arm depression real nice. Just make sure you have a good spring compressor. I used the one that is internal and runs up through the shock tunnel. Used floor jack to raise the lower control arm to reattach the ball joint. Good luck and be careful if you do it yourself. Papa Roger

On The Eighth Day God Created Buick

 

best advice I got was to put a tow strap thru the coils and around the frame or something else as solid.

IF the spring decides to hop out, it gets caught before it gets to your face.

 

If you have average to better than average mechanical abilities and uncommon sense, you can do this yourself, but it is dangerous to be sure. Need good tools to make it easier. I used OTC ball joint separators, floor jack, length of chain (about 3 ft) with heavy lock to close the loop, and a good center spring compressor (friend had a Snap On), and a 3 to 4 ft prybar. Jack the car up high on jack stands. High enough for the lower a arm do drop down close to vertical. Remove wheel, and put floor jack under ball joint on a-arm. Route chain thru the spring (2or3 coils) and thru the upper a-arm, leave enough slack in the chain so that the expanded spring and swung down a-arm is not constrained. Use the ball joint separator to remove the lower or upper ball joint. Lower is better for your work, but sometimes harder to separate. SLOWLY lower the a-arm down until it swings away, or binds on the rubber bushings. If the lower arm is not all the way down, the spring still has some dangerous compression. What I have done is using a long pry bar, wrapped the end with an old towel and standing to the FRONT as much as possible, pushed the lower a arm down until the spring looses all or most of the compression. Then using the same pry bar, push the spring out to the side. I've done this on a 68 Camaro, 73 Corvette and this 80 Regal without any problem. I have done the reverse process, except using a center mount spring compressor to get the spring short enough to start raising the lower a arm without having too much of an angle to properly start compressing the spring. I have to confess i never felt totally safe doing this, but to date, I've had no problems, and have all my fingers etc. still intact. Others may have a different or better way to do this yourself.

 

Thanks to all,

I think I'll probably try this.

I don't have a ball joint separator, what about loosening the ball joint a little, letting the jack down, wacking the a arm with hammer. ?is that hokey?

Does the spring have a 'tail' that has to be positioned in the pocket a certain way?

I've turned every bolt on this car(including engine assembly) except transmission internals, just swapped verters(put in one of Jim's stage 1 units) BUT, this job has me a little nervous(of course I worry about everything)

Thanks again,

 

Undo the nut to the top of the ball joint threads and it should work. Just have the jack under the a-arm close enough. Will you have enough room to have a clean, hard swing, they fit pretty tight as you know.

 

If you use a pickle fork on the ball joint have another one there to replace it cause your going to tear up the grease cup and ruin the ball joint. Placing a floor jack under the control arm and lowering the ball joint nut flush with the end of the stud, then lowering the jack just away from the arm usually lets the spring pressure to pop the ball joint free. If it doesn't then a firm tap on the side of the control arm at the joint will let it pop off. then raise the jack and remove the nut the rest of the way. SLOWLY !!! lower the floor jack and let the spring decompress and slide it out. If you you take your time its not hard to do Papa Roger

On The Eighth Day God Created Buick

 

Ok, thanks. I wasn't sure if that was accepted practice, didn't sound THAT bad, until Jason suggested "work like a human" o No:

 

Worked up the nerve to start this job this morning.
Issues
-keeping ball joint stud from turning while loosening castle nut. Liquid wrench, wd40, worked the nut back and forth as I went.
-A ARM caught on brake dust shield and stretched it out a bit. Jack A ARM back up use screwdriver to move it out of the way.
-A ARM all the way down and spring still pushing on inside of pocket
I read many posts about the spring just dropping out when the A arm was lowered all the way without using a compressor. Looks like that won't work for me so I jacked it back up and will be getting a compressor.

 

This is one of the first jobs I tackled on my Riv when I bought it. It took 2 full days to get the fronts in and out. But take into consideration I sand blasted all the parts and epoxy painted everything before reassembly. Still, getting them out was easy. Putting them back was a PITA. Using a compressor as tight as I can get it was just enough to get the spring in the pocket and the A arm under it. lifting with a floor jack to finish raising it was fruitless. the front of the car was off the stands and I still had several inches to go. I ended up putting another jack on to opposite corner of the car to get it to finally come together. There was also at least 1/2 dozen times that the spring K-Boing'd across the driveway. Wonder I didn't lose my hand. One job I will never do again.

 

I did mine myself on my GS, It would be pretty similar I assume.
I put a chain though the spring and control arms and bolted the ends so if the spring did want to fly out it wasnt going far. Could save your fender and your face.
But when I was lowering the lower control arm with the jack, I was in front of the car away from the line of fire

Her's the thread, turned out the springs were not the cause of my noise but at least I got a factory spring back in. Pix and videos
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...ront-springs-nothing-to-it!&highlight=springs

 

Thanks guys.
Curtis, you never updated your thread. Was it the lowers?

 

Just updated it now
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...y-this-front-suspension-noise&highlight=noise

It was the upper ball joint, it was dry! The car had all new suspension parts done by the previous owner when the car was off the frame, The new joints I bought had grease in them, but I guess this one got missed by the factory

 

FWIW done this a number of times by removing the 2 lower control arm bolts on the bushing end. Takes some wrastling and cussing to line up the holes. Like doing it this way so you don't need to separate the lower ball joint and no need for a spring compressor. Well...you might still need the latter, if you don't have the weight of the engine to assist in compressing the spring.

 

Thanks Stew(my oldest son is Stew too), I think I'll be more comfortable with the compressor.

Springs are out. As suggested(thank you), a 5' spud bar popped the bottoms out.

 

Springs back in!

First spring- compress up against frame, use pry bar to pop into lower spring pocket.
Second spring- when I was trying to pry the bottom of the spring over, the TOOL SLIPPED OFF THE SPRING! Sparks, noise, my arm hurts(don't know what hit it). As I compressed the spring it was NOT anywhere near the lower pocket. I had to pry it over with an 8' 2x4(jack stand as a fulcrum) .
Anyway, job is done.
Thanks for the help!