I took off my front springs and noticed the flat pigtail edge of the spring was on the top. I thought it belongerd being oriented on the bottom???
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"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru Outback -
front springs flat goes up. You'll see the lower control arm has a ledge for the non-flat end to sit on properly. The inside of the frame rail perch is flat.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
Originally posted by gadget73
... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
Originally posted by dmccaig
Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes. -
What he said. Piggy end goes in the notch for it. I imagine it would make all kinds of obnoxious noises if the spring was in upside-down.86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley
91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry
1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal
Originally posted by phayzer5
I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousersComment
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I couldn't find any good pictures of the lower control arms for your car to confirm they're the same as mine, but assuming they are, there should be two holes where the end of the spring sits. IIRC, the holes are about one inch apart. The end of the spring is supposed to be between those two holes.
Something that didn't occur to me until after I re-installed my springs with the ends close to the outer holes some months ago was that rotating the springs so that the ends are closer to the inner holes might compensate for any spring wear. Does anyone know if one inch would make a difference?
2000 Grand Marquis LS HPP, a hand-me-down in 2008 with 128,000 km; 175,000 km as of July 2014
mods: air filter box 'tuba', headlight relay harness, J-mod (around 186,350 km), 70mm throttle body, KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, aluminum driveshaft, ARA3 PCMComment
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Thanks for the help huys, I neve rheard about the wearing thing. I just thought it would probably ride a little softer"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru OutbackComment
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BTW any tricks to getting the spring back on the upper and lower control arms?"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru OutbackComment
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slot into frame... swing lower control arm up... use crow bar to get coil over the centering hump in the control arm... use a jack to raise up to spindle and slot lower ball joint in and tighten down. (Assuming upper control arm is already holding the spindle, release jack and continue with the rest of assembly.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
Originally posted by gadget73
... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
Originally posted by dmccaig
Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.Comment
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I do mine a little different.
I compress the holy hell out of the spring using the compressor tool. Then I place it in the frame and make sure the pig tail end sits just about right in the notch for it. I then use a jack to raise the lower control arm slowly, making sure the spring is sitting correctly as it goes up. After the arm is raised and the spring is sitting right, I loosen the spring compressor tool using the hole in the bottom of the lower control arm. (The hole is big enough to slide out the whole tool through it when it's loosened all the way.) I then continue to jack up until I can reattach the upper ball joint.
I think my way probably takes more time than Sly's, but I'm too much of a scaredy cat to pry the compressed spring into position with a crow bar.
'78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)Comment
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the spring only needs about an inch of play with the crow bad to get over the hump as it were. It's not a lot of energy at play at that point. once the control arm is pressed back up though... better hope that jack is good.
I'm not a real strong guy, so for me to be able to do it, it's not that hard.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
Originally posted by gadget73
... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
Originally posted by dmccaig
Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.Comment
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Sly, I tired doing it that way, but there's no way it can go in without coming out of the hump on top if i pry on the botom and vice versa, PITA!!!!!!!!!!!
I got driver's side in, now just got to do passenger side spring!!"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru OutbackComment
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Slack, I did it your way and although it was a pita, to get the compressor out of the center whole, it was easier for me"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru OutbackComment
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yeah... it's a pita... but when you're already covered in grease and burnt rubber, you make it work as I didn't want to put everything back up, shower, and destroy another set of clothes finishing the job. Definitely easier with the compressor though... or stiffer springs as they are typically shorter when un-sprung.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
Originally posted by gadget73
... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
Originally posted by dmccaig
Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.Comment
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interesting, i managed to get the driver's side spring in. I just need to get the drivers side upper control arm and spindle assembly on.
After that, I need to do the same thign to the pasenger side! UGH. I will be so glad when it's done!
Those shocks are SPENT!!! I think they were original. Can't see anythgin past the rust all over the shock and it does seem to go up ad down very easy!"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru OutbackComment
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Cool! I'm glad it worked for you. I probably should have mentioned that I also doubled up a jack stand under the lower arm as well as the jack when I was futzing with the spring.
My shocks were the same way when they came off, unbelievably dead. haha
'78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)Comment
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yup, lol. Im not looking forward to doing the passenger side.
Curious, Can you put grease on the mounting spots for the coil spring? Would it do more harm than good?"To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"
-1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
-1986 Honda Magna 700cc
-1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
-2011 Subaru OutbackComment
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