Just a note to you guys doing front springs on a 65-70 B body. Read a manual. These do not come apart the way you would think. DO NOT separate the ball joints. Remove strut rod and sway bar link. The lower control arm is dropped by removing the inner pivot pin. A floor jack with a short piece of 2x4 cut at a 45 degree angle set on top is inserted into the lower control arm by the bushing. Jack to take the load, remove pin, and lower slowly. The whole thing swings down and out easily. And amazingly goes back just as easy, it would seem a little wiggly but it isn't and basiclly just goes right back where it was. I have even done this on a bare frame with just the engine( BB ) sitting in it for weight. No need for spring compressors or banding the spring.
And don't forget to mark the position of the cam on the pivot pin before you start as this is your camber setting.
-- Edited by DANO65 on Wednesday 19th of May 2010 11:51:04 AM
be warned those front springs are a bomb wainting to go off, saw a guy a our local auto club using a spring compressor break the compressor send the spring flying past his face ,it was in the car, into the side of another car it cut into the side panel. when i did mine i stuck a large breaker bar through the spring and pocket just in case. as far as rough ride ill take you for a ride it is a very rough ride with the factory f-41 springs compared with the other cars. but 427 is right it handles like a 2ton slot car, scary. one guys rough is another guys soft. i guess im getting old
DANO65 said
May 19, 2010
rarechev wrote:
Hey Dan, good info thanks, however a month to late i put all new springs in the impala with a spring compresser
Very interesting about reinstalling front springs in a bare frame without having the springs banded. We barely were able to get the stud on the lower ball joint with a 225 lb. man bouncing on the front end. I actually never considered NOT installing the ecentric pin first, ie we DID install the pin, in which case there was no possible way of getting the lower control arm in a position that it would take the spring with a jack under it. If you install the pin in the inward positon of the lower control arm, which we did, you cannot raise that arm with a jack as the spring is much too long to catch the stop on the lower control arm. By leaving the pin out of the lower control arm it would be free floating on the jack, almost parallel to the upper A-arm, and with enough weight, for instance a big block, it could be jacked up enough to reinstall the pin. I think this is a good idea however banding the springs only cost me $32.00 so at my age I'm not sure I would try this even if I had been bright enough to have thought about it. I think I would be nervous about trying to get that pin manouvered into postion with that freefloating arm holding the spring on the jack however when you think about it once that spring is up inside the upper pocket there is really no place it can go even if it does slip out. By the way, I was not smart enough to mark the original position of the concentric so the guys that will set up the front end will have to start anew.
DANO65 said
May 21, 2010
427 Strato, the ball joints remain attached to the spindle. The pivot point now becomes the lower ball joint, and since the ball joint is closer to the spring than the bushing end of the control arm, you now have a longer lever to compress the spring by jacking from the bushing. I wish I had the Chilton book right now to scan and post the pics. I'll try at a future date once I get it back from my Dad.
65wagon said
May 21, 2010
DANO65 wrote:
427 Strato, the ball joints remain attached to the spindle. The pivot point now becomes the lower ball joint, and since the ball joint is closer to the spring than the bushing end of the control arm, you now have a longer lever to compress the spring by jacking from the bushing. I wish I had the Chilton book right now to scan and post the pics. I'll try at a future date once I get it back from my Dad.
i sill have the picture of that guys face welded in my memeory as the spring goes wipping past his nose, those things make me nervous. i dont move as fast as i did when i was 20ish
be warned those front springs are a bomb wainting to go off, saw a guy a our local auto club using a spring compressor break the compressor send the spring flying past his face ,it was in the car, into the side of another car it cut into the side panel. when i did mine i stuck a large breaker bar through the spring and pocket just in case. as far as rough ride ill take you for a ride it is a very rough ride with the factory f-41 springs compared with the other cars. but 427 is right it handles like a 2ton slot car, scary. one guys rough is another guys soft. i guess im getting old
Maybe i coulda got 1 more year out of it
427 Strato, the ball joints remain attached to the spindle. The pivot point now becomes the lower ball joint, and since the ball joint is closer to the spring than the bushing end of the control arm, you now have a longer lever to compress the spring by jacking from the bushing. I wish I had the Chilton book right now to scan and post the pics. I'll try at a future date once I get it back from my Dad.