Springs

[Guest]

Has anyone tackled front springs in one of these?

[Guest]

Just got my computor back. I hope nothing is attached???. I just got the springs and a compreser. Let,s hope they don,t take my head off.

[scumdog]

Yeah, sometimes replies on these forums are a tad slow in coming in eh?

[Petrolhead]

tbirds8, I'm a few days away from removing the front springs from my '62. I've removed the front shocks, they have to come out before you remove the coils. It's very straightforward. Undo the single nut on the bottom stud of the shock. Undo the shock tower to firewall brace at the firewall. Remove the shock and the brace as one piece. Then undo the nut at the top of the shock, which seperates it from the brace.

You'll need a substantial coli spring compressor. I used an el cheapo one to take the front coils out of a '64 Fairlane. It bent, the coil came free and smashed a hole in the garage wall.

I strongly recommend that you get a short length of chain and a shackle, and put a safety chain through the coil and loop it through the front suspension. It'll hold the coil in the car.

Don't underestimate the force that these things pack, they can be lethal.

Good luck.

scumdog - a fellow kiwi eh? cool.

[Guest]

Hello new zel. I know how bad these are. You're lucky it hit the wall and not your chin. I got the springs and a internol commp from eastwoods. Well the springs are from mac,s. The more I work on the front end the higher it sits. So don't be as quick as I was. But my car sat from 1977 till now. And is going to go down the road this weekend. Go or Blow. (as they say)..................................................Bill

[Petrolhead]

tbird8, how'd you get on with your springs? Got mine out, was a bit of a challenge but succeeded with all my body parts still intact.

[Texas Landau]

I was doing the entire front end on my '63, a friend of mine said he did his '66 mustang in a weekend, so that seemed easy enough...... I actually stripped a spring compressor trying to get the first one out! When I finally got it out, I was removing the compressor and it let go, sending tools all over the garage! Incredibly, it just put a hole in the drywall and chipped the concrete, missing me and my car.

I could barely get the new one in, and it still was not aligned properly. I decided that although I do nearly all the work on the car myself, this was best left to a pro. The first shop I towed it to looked at it and refused the work. The next shop did it, and he stripped a compressor, too!

The final result turned out great, but I will never try to do it on these cars again.....maybe a 66 Mustang.....

[Alexander]

Glad you did not get hurt or have major damage. The springs on these cars are heavy, unlike modern cars.

[Guest]

Hello Everyone. I haven,t got to the springs yet. To much other stuff going on right now. Plus I,m in between not enough cars and to many. Thanks for the replys. I'll keep you
posted on the outcome. .................................Bill

[RustyNCa]

Do you really need a spring compressor for the 65, I usually just use a floor jack under the a arm, put some pressure on the lower arm, un do the lower ball joint and lower everything back out, then reverse the process to reinstall the spring.

That is how I did the springs in the 58, the 59 and my 68 olds... and how I was planning to remove and change out the 65's springs.

[Guest]

springs

The springs on those cars are in between the upper and lower control arms I think? The 64 5 and 6 are on the upper only and you have to use a compresor.

[scumdog]

The springs on those cars are in between the upper and lower control arms I think? The 64 5 and 6 are on the upper only and you have to use a compresor.

True, the suspension is not the average 'coil-to-bottom-arm type.

The compressor will have to be Godzilla strong to hold a T-bird spring.

[RustyNCa]

True, the suspension is not the average 'coil-to-bottom-arm type.

The compressor will have to be Godzilla strong to hold a T-bird spring.

Yep, I learned over the weekend when I pulled the wheels off, hmm, not setup the way I was imagining.

I went and got a loaner coil spring compressor from Autozone, one side out so far with not to much trouble.

The design of the tool is it drops down inside the spring and works really nice.

I am also pretty impressed with the brake setup on the front of the 65... will it fit on a 58 or 59 Bird?

[Hawkrod]

The 61-66 use a unique front spindle and steering arm setup. The exact same brakes were used on Galaxies with a different spindle and will fit a 58-60. Just look for a 65-67 Galaxie if you are determined to have 4 piston brakes. Fair warning though, they have a reputation for issue with locking pistons (mostly undeserved, the locking is not inherent to the design, it is related to wear and lousy rebuilders). For ease of maintenance, cost, and access to replacement parts many people use the 73-79 intermediate car front brakes. The spindles bolt right on and make for a very easy and inexpesive swap. Look for LTD II, Cougar (74 and newer), Torino, Ranchero, Tbird etc... Be sure and check to see if the donor car has rear drum brakes. The cars with rear disc brakes use a whole different setup and the wheel bolt pattern is different. Hawkrod

[RustyNCa]

The 61-66 use a unique front spindle and steering arm setup. The exact same brakes were used on Galaxies with a different spindle and will fit a 58-60. Just look for a 65-67 Galaxie if you are determined to have 4 piston brakes. Fair warning though, they have a reputation for issue with locking pistons (mostly undeserved, the locking is not inherent to the design, it is related to wear and lousy rebuilders). For ease of maintenance, cost, and access to replacement parts many people use the 73-79 intermediate car front brakes. The spindles bolt right on and make for a very easy and inexpesive swap. Look for LTD II, Cougar (74 and newer), Torino, Ranchero, Tbird etc... Be sure and check to see if the donor car has rear drum brakes. The cars with rear disc brakes use a whole different setup and the wheel bolt pattern is different. Hawkrod

Man, so you are telling me the 79 TBird that I had a chance to take and part out for free actually had something useful on it ? And it might have a disc brake rear end? Would those rear end parts work on any of my birds, the 58, 59 or 65?