Coil springs from 67 Sprite, how to install?

[RickB]

I had a good weekend as far as getting parts for Frank anyway.

I'm thinking the coil spring swap goes something like:

Jack up car, put on stands.
Get something(?) to put between lower spring pan & jack for support.
Loosen the bolts on the lower spring pan.
Use jack and that "something" mentioned above to take the pressure off the bolts as I remove them.
lower jack and spring and pan once it's free.
Assembly in opposite order.

I suppose these bolts just spin & I'll have to find a way to hold their nuts inside the pan while removing.

Any gotchas or things I'm not considering or "better way to do it" ideas?

In addition to the springs I got a better rear bumper (not bent) and the guy threw in a bonnet for free. The Bonnet is nice except at the very front where it's got some bad rust up under the lip where the top grille surround piece goes.
I'd like ideas about how to treat that too - I'll post a picture as soon as I take one.

Oh - I also received a nice hardtop from a member here who lives pretty close to me. This is the best forum /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[Morris]

That sounds like a pretty good way to get the old ones out, if the head of your jack is small enough to give you access to the bolts. I would take two bolts off, and use the jack to get the last two off. As for putting them back on, I think the best way to go is to get two a 2.3-3" bolts. Put those on the pan at a diagonal, and use them to tighten the pan into place. Once the pan is in place, put two short bolts in and tighten, remove the long bolts, then finish the job.

On the older cars, a lot of people like to remove the king pin and then lower the whole a-arm with a jack thus freeing the spring. This will not work with the long, stock 1500 springs.

 

[RickB]

Thanks Morris. Good idea about reassembly.
I love living across the street from the hardware store!

 

[PeterC]

Here is how I've done very many.

Support car on stands.
Jack under bottom trunion.
Undo shock to upper trunion bolts.
Lower jack all the way.
The spring will have no load, it will NOT fly out. In fact, you'll probably have to kick it out with your foot.
Reverse procedure to install.

Simple and safe.

Peter

 

[jlaird]

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif a very fast/quick/easy job indeed.

 

[Morris]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]upport car on stands.
Jack under bottom trunion.
Undo shock to upper trunion bolts.
Lower jack all the way.
The spring will have no load, it will NOT fly out. In fact, you'll probably have to kick it out with your foot.
Reverse procedure to install.[/QUOTE]

This is what I was talking about when I said "remove king pin." My writing is not so clear some times. I have tried this technique several times on my 1500, and have always found the springs to be too tall to remove this way. But it will probably work great for getting the '67 springs back in.

 

[PeterC]

Morris, I have done it on the late cars. You do have to push down on the a-frame, and you do have to kick the spring.

Honest.

Peter

 

[Morris]

I guess I was too chicken to kick the spring.

 

[SilentUnicorn]

This only works if the engine is still in the car...


mark

 

[Sportsdoc]

I did the diagonal bolt method. This was OK but tedious tightening and loosening those long bolts. Wish I had seen Peter C.'s method earlier!!

 

[RickB]

Ok, I am going to put together a list of the ways this is done & print it out so I can refer to it when I start the work.
It sounds easy enough, but we will see.

Thanks guys, as usual you have shown how valuable this place really is. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[RickB]

I just got done replacing my front springs on Frank.
I went ahead and got longer bolts & spacers. It went down from 26.5 inches at the top of the wheel well (just above the tire) down to 23 inches.

I bought a cheap floor jack and a pair of jack stands.
Put the car on stands then put the jack under the spring pan.
Jacked up until it took the weight off that side then removed bolts. Was a bit worried on the first one so I put in some longer bolts to take up the slack. Ended up being no big deal so I just took out the rest of the bolts.

I put it all together and let the car down only to find that it was only 3/4 inch lower than before.
Luck me, True Value hardware is right across the street.
Bought 8 longer fine thread 5/16 bolts, nuts & for spacer I got 24 3/8 coarse thread nuts. Three nuts for each bolt gave me just the right amount of lowering.

As with most of these things the first side took a lot longer as I had to do it twice, but everything went progressively faster as I got the feeling for it.

Now I'm going to have to lower the back end a few inches.
But not today /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[RickB]

Now I've done this about 4 times.
Anything worth doing once is worth doing over and over and over...

When I started out the measurement from the road to the top of the front wheel arch was 26.5 inches. After replacing the springs it was lowered to 26 inches. After adding long bolts & spacers I got it down to 22.5 inches.
That was too low, I had interference between the tires and the sheet metal when turning.

Yesterday I got back under and removed one of the nuts I was using as spacers. This raised it to 23 inches. The rubbing of the tire & fender is gone, but I haven't tried it with a passenger yet. It's right on the line where I know if I lose some weight it will improve. If I add a passenger it might start rubbing again. I'll have to give that a test tonight after work.