Will this front coil swap approach work ok.....?

[im4darush]

I am swapping my factory coils to the moog 5658 and am wondering if the approach I am planning will work. Looking for some real world experience from guys that have done it this way. This has worked for me on many other cars but will be the first time on a G body.

Car will be up on 4 floor jacks(front and rear).
-Remove front shocks.
-Remove sway bar links.
-Loosen lower ball joint nut. Do not remove...leave just enough for the joint to pop (after a good hammer wack)and still containt the spring.
-Support lower A arm with floor jack after the ball joint is loose and remove nut.
-Slowly lower A arm and remove spring.

Install is the above in reverse. My only concern with this approach is being able to compress the new moog spring enough so that I am able to get the ball joint into the spindle and get the nut on it. Has worked ok on A body, F body...etc, but first time with the G. Common sense says its all the same, but one never knows so any advice and/or recomendations would be appreciated. A body cars are heavier so compressing the spring was never a problem. F bodies were the same. The car is an 87 T.....and Im not sure if there is enought weight on the nose to do this.

Thanks guys.

 

[charlief1]

Most of that is ok, but I hope you mean jack stands, not jacks. The easier way to get the springs in is to use a spring compressor. Take the shock out, put the spring compressor in through the hole you took the shock out of. The top of the spring is held with the claws of the compressor and the bottom will hang out and uses the LCA as part of the compressor.. You compress the spring onto the control arm, drop it down and loossen the compressor. Change the springs out and compress the new spring on the control arm. Put the parts back together and de-compress the spring. You don't have to fight the spring this way and worry about it not sitting in the pocket wrong.

 

[im4darush]

Yes, jack stands. Sorry. I realize a spring compressor would make it easier to get the spring in/out. Just wondering if it is possible to do without one. Some cars have enought weight on the nose where you can compress the spring with the jack under the LCA and get everything back together as it should be without much hassle. Being that I have not done a 6cyl G body, I just wanted some real world experience. Every car is different and a few hundred lbs off the nose can make or break this deal. The other issue here is seating it right...as you mentioned.

 

[jdpolzin]

Getting your old springs out without a compressor will do just fine but it's really not worth the hassle of trying to install them without one since they can be rented for free from your local parts store.