removing front suspension

[Guest]

Thanks for all the information guys. Very helpful. What do people do to remove the springs. Is just as simple as taking the load off with a Jack and slowly letting it down. Will I be able too get them back in without the engine.
Thanks Chris.

[Dakota Boy]

the shop manual shows how to use a floor jack under the lower control arm for the removal. the front of the car needs to be raised pretty high first. The spring will fall right out once the lower control arm is pointing down at 6 o'clock position.

Loosen the two bolts where the control arm mounts to the frame before you do that or I believe the bushings will get tore up.

Putting them back in without an engine will not be easy; as you need a lot of weight on the car in order to get that lower ball joint back in the spindle.

[DKheld]

X2 on Greg's info. Used to remember but it's been 10+ years since I rebuilt my front end (too long) - think it was 28 inches that the front needed to be off the ground for the lower A-arms to come down far enough to get the springs out - pretty high.
Without the engine in there I'd bet you will need a coil spring compressor to put it back together. I remember when putting mine back in I had to get a friend to sit on the fender to keep the front end from lifting.

Yes - you can laugh at the "wood" colored jack stand -



Eric

[toddgilroy]

For another point of reference, that is a standard 6 ton jack stand in the background. It was not extended much at all but I had a small piece of 2x4 in between the top of the stand and the underside of the car. Second pic is when the spring was ready to fall out.

[simplyconnected]

For another point of reference, that is a standard 6 ton jack stand in the background. It was not extended much at all but I had a small piece of 2x4 in between the top of the stand and the underside of the car...

I prefer to spread my jack stands out.

Did you ever skate or roller blade? With your feet together, it's much easier to fall over. If you spread your legs out, one forward and one behind, while traveling, it's nearly impossible to fall forward or backward. We call this the 'platform'.

Same holds true with stands. I put my front stands on the frame, close to the bumper, very high. Then I give the car a good shake before crawling under it.

I use a scissors jack, directly under the joint, for the best spring control. Yes, there are probably dozens of ways that work but I take extra safety precautions which is why I still have all my digits. - Dave

[dgs]

I prefer to spread my jack stands out.

Did you ever skate or roller blade? With your feet together, it's much easier to fall over. If you spread your legs out, one forward and one behind, while traveling, it's nearly impossible to fall forward or backward. We call this the 'platform'.

Same holds true with stands. I put my front stands on the frame, close to the bumper, very high. Then I give the car a good shake before crawling under it.

I use a scissors jack, directly under the joint, for the best spring control. Yes, there are probably dozens of ways that work but I take extra safety precautions which is why I still have all my digits. - Dave

I concur. When I did my front end, I initially put the stands where the shop manual said, under the rockers behind the front wheels. This was the result:



Notice how the car almost looks level, the rear bumper is up in the air and you can see 2/3 of the rear wheel. As I dropped the jack up front, the car settled a lot, leaning forward and lifting the rear. I didn't like the thought of laying under the car forward of the jack stands after it shifted so much.

I put it down and tried again, this time putting the stands up front, behind the bumper under the radiator:



This time it didn't settle much at all and felt rock solid. I felt much more secure getting under it like this.

[toddgilroy]

I hear ya...I originally had the 4 jack stands at the far front and far rear of the car near the bumper brackets, but found my doors were rubbing slightly (convertible). Moved the stands in but have the front higher than the rear, and a spare pair of 6 ton stands just below weight-bearing at the front near the bumper brackets. Trust me, I put all my weight into seeing if this beast was going to move and it wouldn't budge.

And about those doors rubbing...I have a body cart in transit and hope to get this blasted and to the body shop soon, where I will have them do necessary work on the inner rockers.

[simplyconnected]

Doug and Todd, I love both your posts. Before I put my old @$$ under any car I shake the crap out of the body like my life depends on it because it does. If anything looks 'iffy', I redo the stands.

Todd, do a search and find posts that describe the 2" X 4" rectangular channel that everyone is using. I heard the cost is $100, but after installation stability is better than when your body was new. - Dave

[dgs]

I hear ya...I originally had the 4 jack stands at the far front and far rear of the car near the bumper brackets, but found my doors were rubbing slightly (convertible).

My doors rubbed a bit too at the upper back edges. My car is a CA car, but it does have bondo in the rockers. I think (hope) it's just the outers, but I'm not certain. Given how clean the rest of the body & undercarriage is, I think it's a good bet.

I don't think I'd put mine up with the stands at both far ends of the car. The support is too far apart then. If I'm lifting the whole car, the end I'm working on gets stands at the bumper, the other end gets them under the rockers inside the wheelbase.

These old unit body chassis are not as stiff as the new ones. I remember putting my '99 Odyssey on 4 stands at the pinch welds under the rocker panels, and it would only actually sit on 3 of them. It was a couple of mm off the 4th stand, the chassis would not flex enough to settle on all 4 stands.