hello
I'm about to replace the sagged out old front coils with new HD lowered
what is the esiest way to do this ?
drop the bottom ball joint OR drop the the lower control arm at the pivot point at the crossmember ?
69 full size cars have the bottom ball joint under the control arm not above it like an A or F body so I'm not sure which way to go !
any help with this this would be great as it's been awhile
thanks
dave

Definitely the ball joint end. I usually run car up on trailer and chain frame to trailer. That way when I use a bottle jack under the lower A-frame and release the spring pressure the car isn't going to jump up which could allow the spring to come out unexpectedly.

I have also used an engine crane to replace the springs, once again chaining the frame to one leg of the engine hoist and then lowering the hoist to let the lower A-frame fall off the ball joint in a controlled manner. Even sagging old worn out springs store a lot of energy.


Big Dave

o.k. thanks
I'll put it up on stands as high as I can, pull the wheels off and shocks out and have a look, hopefully it'll come back to me, no trailer but I've got a couple of big workshop jacks so I'll work something out,
whats confusing me is the lower A arm ball joint taper points down towards the road, so the spindle actually holds both arms together if you know what I mean ?
dave

If you have a shop crane try my second method (I prefer trailer cause I don't get as low as I used to).

Yes the lower ball joint carries all the weight of the car. Chevy put out a service bulletin on the last of the big B-bodies to swap over to the pick-up truck lower ball joint to be installed in the SS Impalas because they were failing under warranty. This was a standard installed part in all of the Police Interceptors and the Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham limos. You could upgrade yours to this stronger part, it just means drilling bigger holes in the A-frame to mount it and reaming a bigger hole on the bottom of the spindle (requires a special tool available from S-K and Mac Tool guys).


Big Dave

no engine crane either, but I know what you mean, any other ideas ?
the chassis manual recommends lowering the bottom control arm from the crossmember, sounds o.k. in theory and looks eazy enough ,
but what do you think ?

I prefer the ball joint end, as you have better control. Loosen nut and unthread it until top of nut is flush with the stud and then smack it with an big hammer. That will free it from the spindle. If the floor jack will raise the A-frame with out picking up the whole car, then you can lower the A-frame that way. If not you have to compress the spring with a spring compressor (you can rent one at most parts stores) to get the spring out safely.

Big Dave

thanks dave
I dropped the whole spindle assembly from the upper A arm and the springs just fell out, but I recommend getting a buddy to help line up the new thicker, stiffer springs, that was a bitch on my own, never again !
cheers
dave

Sorry, I didn't read this earlier. About 25 years ago, I replaced the springs on my 69 Custom coupe. As I remember, you need to "arch" the spring assembly during installation (using a spring compressor with uneven hooks). The first side I did, took me all day, but once I learned how to get the spring in the correct arch, the 2nd side was a snap.

Hope this helps....NEXT time!