Alfa Romeo Forums banner

HELP!!! front spring compressor....

15K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  bianchi2 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all,
Any tips on how to compress the front springs for removal and installation? My spring compressors dont really fit well in there so I have been contemplating the floor jack method mentioned in the repair manual. But when I place the floor jack under the spring pan to try to load the spring, I can lift the front corner of the car off of the jackstands before I get any visible relief in the spring.

Its a '74 GTV removing the stock components replacing with IAP reds.

How is this done?
Thanks,
sono
 
#4 ·
The threaded rod method is pretty effective, and cheaper than a spring compressor. Pick up a couple of one foot long or so lengths of 7/16" threaded rod and 4 nuts to fit them. Replace one of the 4 springpan bolts with the threaded rod. Replace the opposite corner springpan bolt with the other threaded rod. Remove the two remaining springpan bolts. Loosening the nuts on the threaded rods will lower the springpan so the spring can be removed.
 
#5 ·
I suggest using four threaded rods not just two, to be absolutely safe. The biggest danger is if the spring is not compressed/decompressed completely "square" and comes out of the pans. Have you ever compressed a small spring between your index finger and thumb and had the spring shoot out from your fingers? Imagine the damage those front springs can inflict if this same scenario happens. So use four threaded rods and take your time and lower each coner of the spring pan no more than an inch or two at a time.
 
#7 ·
I did this during my year long project..

I used 4 3/8" rods, maybe overkill, but with a spring that has 1600lbs of force in it, paranoia is a good idea!! More practially, the 3/8" fills the hole better, less likely to slop around.. and even more important, a coarser thread!! You will be cursing how many turns per inch as you turn (and turn, and turn) the wrench, so 12 tpi is better than 16 or whatever the smaller rod is.
You could get away with two..

You need them to be at least 8-9", I found some pre cut 10" ones, but 12" will be fine. The stock springs are pretty long when unloaded. Lucky for me the W&D springs I put on were much shorter to start with.. so saved some heavy wrenching...

Double nut the top side and put one washer there.. You want to get thick washers that are small enough in diameter to go under the curve of the spring pan.. they will act as spacers so the nut on the bottom of the spring pan is raised high enough that you can easily wrench it. Get yourself a pair of cheap ratcheting box wrenches.. they will make things go much quicker.. I took them down the first time with only one non racheting box wrench.. man, thought I was going to end up with my forearms looking like Popeye! 9" X 12 tpi x 4 rods, that's a lotta turns!!

When you get close to slack, you can take up the weight with a floor jack and save yourself the last few inches.. and start it back up that way.. But the spring has more force than the car weighs.. so you don't get to press too much before you'll lift that corner off the jack stands, so watch out!

It's pretty straightforward, just takes some time.. and you'll have buff forearms to impress the ladies, afterward!!
:D
 
#8 ·
The threaded rods worked like a charm! I used three to get the pan up to the point where I could thread a normal pan-bolt in the remaining hole. then I tightend them all down the rest of the way so that I could be confidient that the pan was held securely before I started individually replacing the threaded rods with normal pan-bolts. I used a ratcheting wrench and it went really smooth. Thanks to everyone for the help. I'll post some before/during/after pics just as soon as I get the passenger side finished.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I took everything apart, pressure washeed the wheel-well, then sprayed it with this undercoating. I am not happy at all with the quality of the undercoating, its too soft, and hasn't adhered well to the wheel well, it scrapes off easily and there are lots of little nicks just from working in the well afterward. It also took an extremely long time to cure.

All the suspension arms got wire brushed, then masked, and I applied POR 15 by use of a brush. The POR 15 looks great, goes on easy and dries very HARD. I let them cure for a day in the sun then pressed in new bushings and replaced the lower ball joints (other ball joints were in good shape so I left them).

While I was buying the bushings Jon norman told me about replacing the control arm bushings with aluminium ones to tighten up the front a bit, so i turned some up on the lathe.

Old shocks were replaced with Koni's, old springs were replaced with IAP reds.


The rear is still dangling, and will have to wait until next weekend as I am just too busy to finish it right now. If you'd like to read about the rear and see pix when I get them they'll be posted to the :
trailing arm bushings ARRRGH! Thread.

If I had It to do over again, I'd probably apply POR 15 to the Wheel well first, then find some rubbery tar stuff that'd eat up the road noise and put that over it. Oh well live and learn.
 

Attachments

#12 ·
I dunno,
Its the kind that came from the P.O. this being the first GTV of my very own I didn't know if it was stock or not.

Its aluminium and right around 1" in diameter and it's SOLID! not a tube!

Why anyone would make a swaybar out of aluminum is beyond me, maybe someone here can tell me. It seems like steel tube would be so much more rigid and allow you to use less material.
 

Attachments

#14 ·
Hey, I tried 3/8" rod and it didn't fit the holes. Since I was halfway into it, I went to my local hardware srore which didn't have threaded rod. Soooo, I got 7/16 carriage bolts, stuck them in and used the jack to move the pan up in increments. Hey, it worked like a champ! :D I live in the sticks, so the big hardware store is a long way away.
 
#15 · (Edited)
so I have finished, but now the spacers need to be replaced under the springs. It appears the PO removed them and now with the lowered springs and no spacers I feel like the car is too low in front; its about two and a quarter inches to the oil pan guard (any one out there have spacers?). My first impressions of the Koni+IAP spring setup is that it seems smooth but soft. maybe a little too soft.
Next I need to find some suitalbe centercaps for my new wheels...
 

Attachments

#17 ·
I thought it was pretty easy to mock up a tool and get this done if you keep just a few things in mind.
1. We're all going to die sometime anyway. Why not in your garage mahal under an Alfa?
2. It helps to use a spacer under the spring pan to allow the full use of a ratcheting box wrench.
1671997

3. Decide whether you need to access from the top, bottom, or a little of both (I did the latter, but for no good reason)
3.5 From the top you'll need to crank the steering full lock to give yourself some room.
1671996

4. The threaded rod will likely catch threads on the Alfa bits, and bollix the threads a bit...so you have to keep loosening both as equally as possible.
5. The preload distance isn't as bad as I'd read. It's only around 10cm or so.
1671995
 
#18 ·
Hi all,
Any tips on how to compress the front springs for removal and installation? My spring compressors dont really fit well in there so I have been contemplating the floor jack method mentioned in the repair manual. But when I place the floor jack under the spring pan to try to load the spring, I can lift the front corner of the car off of the jackstands before I get any visible relief in the spring.

Its a '74 GTV removing the stock components replacing with IAP reds.

How is this done?
Thanks,
sono
if you have aftermarket spring you can do this.. just with a couple 2 inch long bolts to get the finel squeeze to the arms... speedway motors front spring at 1150 inch pounds are only 9.5 inchs tall,, make it very easy to remove and replace.. takes abouut 10 mins to remove.. the oem springs are really ,, really long.. so you cannot lift them into place...well just a lttle.. it will be a 2 hours job for oem spring r and r.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top