Having trouble installing coil springs?

[89-S-Dime]

There seems to be going number of members who are having trouble installing coil springs when lifting their 2wd S-series trucks and SUV’s. The service manual says to remove the LCA set the coil in place and use a jack to raise the coil and LCA back into place and bolt everything back up.

Fabtech Motorsports says to use two long pry bars and pry the coil into place.


Both methods of installing coil springs are a pain in the a$$, myself and others have found an easier way when installing coil springs on 2wd S-series trucks and SUV’s.

First determine what springs you want to use for your application, in this case we are going to install a set of Moog 5662 coil springs on a 4cyl. S10 pickup with a std. cab, our goal is to achieve around 1” to 1.25” of lift.


Second rent or buy an internal coil spring compressor, if you decide to buy one make sure it’s good one, a cheap one can break and cause injury or you or others.


Next you want to install your internal coil spring compressor to the inside of your coil spring. At this time I would recommend that you attach the rubber insulator to the top of your coil spring, I have found that tape works good to hold the insulator in place doing insulation.

Here is the compressed spring next to the uncompressed spring, notice the placement of coil spring compressor.

You are now ready to install your coil spring, insert the top of the coil into coil spring bucket at the frame first.


When you install your coil spring into the lower control arm you must make sure the end of the spring sits between the two inspection holes or the coil spring will not seat correctly into the Lower control arm.


With the coil spring in place, you can now set a jack under the lower control arm and slowly start jacking the lower control arm up.


Carefully guide the upper ball joint shaft into the top of the spindle as you jack the lower control arm up, now install the ball joint nut and tighten.


Now you can lower the jack and remove your internal coil spring compressor, reinstall your front shock, brake caliber and tie rod end to your spindle.

Don’t forget to set your toe by adjusting your tie rods and take your vehicle to be aligned by a professional

[jt445]

good post. thanks

[low98]

great post but i still have one small question: when you are taking the internal coil spring compressor out of the middle of the coil (assuming the nut on the compressor is facing up towards the sky), where and how do you totally take the compressor out? can you be specific? thanks for any help...

[Deaths Shadow]

great post, sticky it.

[Deaths Shadow]

never mind.. its already stickyed lol

[Blackie]

Quote: Originally Posted by low98

great post but i still have one small question: when you are taking the internal coil spring compressor out of the middle of the coil (assuming the nut on the compressor is facing up towards the sky), where and how do you totally take the compressor out? can you be specific? thanks for any help...

Look at the third picture up from the bottom of the pictures....you will see the spring compressor nut is on the bottom facing down. You simply uncompress it and pull it out of the coil bucket towards the ground.

[low98]

ok i see it now...thanks blackie

[89-S-Dime]

Thats why I install the compressor to the coil like this instead to the ends of the coil




Once the coil is installed and the upper balljoint is tightened to the spindle just lower the jack and unscrew the compressor and remove it through the shock cutout in the lower control arm.

[sapperb]

Hey 85,
Damn good post brutha.

[89-S-Dime]

Thanks bro, I didn't want someone getting hurt trying to install coils the wrong way.

[low98]

^ok thats what i assumed but wasnt sure so thats why i asked...thanks for the clarification^

[sapperb]

Hey 89,
But you didn't include the easiest way to install them. let some one else do it!!!!!!

[terryl]

Excellent how-to. This is also helpful when installing a stock or drop coil spring. If folks will only read this. Good job.

[89-S-Dime]

Quote: Originally Posted by sapperb

Hey 89,
But you didn't include the easiest way to install them. let some one else do it!!!!!!

what do you mean?

[independent755]

Quote: Originally Posted by 89-S-Dime

what do you mean?

I think he was saying let somebody else install the springs .. that would be the "easiest" way to do it ..

[BlkBlzr01]

im gonna bump this thread to ask where you got that spring compressor? nice write up btw.

[sapperb]

You can rent one from Autozone, or you can buy one.

[NickB024]

Quote: Originally Posted by independent755

I think he was saying let somebody else install the springs .. that would be the "easiest" way to do it ..

Thats not the way to do it, easy istallation....

[NickB024]

i just installed fabtech springs on my truck and didnt pay any attention to the placement "guide holes" your talking about. Is this a bad thing? do i need to get the placement right?

[sapperb]

Yes it might be an issue. The end of the spring must lay in the low groove spring indentation on the LCA. That means that your springs aren't seated properly and you might want to re-seat them especially since you are running the stiff ass fabtech springs.

[NickB024]

sweet guide. didnt read it till after words. but just about exactly what i did. the spring compression rental tool from auto zone worked beter for me. the one shown in the pics is the rental from checker. both a $30. deposit.

[heavychevy09]

is it possible to get away without installing the isolators?

[What?]

Best to have isolater in, keeps it seated(doesn't move around the seat while driving on turns) and no metal to metal noise. Best to tape it before installing it so doesn't move too much.

[darkpunk]

I seen a write up on this but it was for a drop spring and this guy just removed his LCA? By removing his LCA i mean he removed the the 2 bolts where it mounts to the frame

Matt

[89-S-Dime]

Quote: Originally Posted by darkpunk

I seen a write up on this but it was for a drop spring and this guy just removed his LCA? By removing his LCA i mean he removed the the 2 bolts where it mounts to the frame

Matt

that is how the service manual says to do it, by removing his LCA. with lift springs it is a major pain to use that method, trying to line the LCA with the frame and bolting it back together.
The pro's use a coil spring compressor and so do it.

With a drop spring you should be able to install the spring without the aid of a coil spring compressor or removing the LCA, I know I was able to on my 89

[Motosport_21]

My auto parts store says that an internal spring compressor will not work for me because I have shocks in the middle. He recommends me to rent the external, but from all of your pictures I see that the compressor slides through the shock hole. If he has an external compressor, is there anything I should know before I use one? Thanks

[Blackie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Motosport_21

My auto parts store says that an internal spring compressor will not work for me because I have shocks in the middle. He recommends me to rent the external, but from all of your pictures I see that the compressor slides through the shock hole. If he has an external compressor, is there anything I should know before I use one? Thanks

Tell your autoparts store guy he is an IDIOT!!!! All S10's come stock with the shocks in the middle of the springs (he should know that). You have to remove the shock before using the internal spring compressor.

Don't even bother with an external spring compressor. Just get the internal and follow the tutorial above.

[What?]

Yeah, it's useful to compress outside then have inside compress so it'll compress to a lot smaller height to make it easier if you have weak impact gun.

And as Blackie said, they are an idiot, you just have to remove shocks, he was thinking of STRUTS

[Motosport_21]

If my inpact sucks, can't I just use a big ratchet?

[992drjimmy]

Im sure a big ratchet will work, But you will be greatful using an impact.

[Motosport_21]

Almost done!!! Rearend complete.....front end tonight. When done, I will create a new thread of my build with tons of pics...

[Motosport_21]

Question. When I place the spring in the upper slot, the bottom needs to be shoved back to fit in place.I dont feel safe prying the spring back while it's in the compressor. Maybe it is....I don't know. Any suggetions how to get this thing in? You explained it well, but still doesn't work for me.....

[What?]

That's why you compress it small enough to get in coil pocket and into lca pocket, with jack up onto it slowly.

I'll be doing this tomorrow, I'll try to get a video so it's clear and apprehensive to do so.

[Motosport_21]

Done!!!! What a pain in the a$$!!!! Apparently, the spring compressor was a large one and the top of the bolt kept hitting the metal housing above keeping me from compressing it anymore. I finally learned that adding a few washers to the compressor allowed me that much more room to compress.
I also found that jack placement was "key" in this installation. With having the spindle installed on the LCA, you have to put the jack in towards the spring, which screws you up when you lift. You can only lift so high before the body starts to go up. Then you need a second jack(with a small head) to just barely grab the lip by the LCA's ball joint. Once you lift with this one and release the other jack, you can then scoot it back enough to get the small one in the right spot to do the job.
This may only be a factor with my jacks and not others. One of my jacks have a huge head on it and the other a small head, so maybe it is just me......but it's all said and done!!!!! My build thread is listed in my signature.

[89-S-Dime]

Install your spring compressor up like this



It will give you plenty of room to work

[89-S-Dime]

The jack should not be a problem, just slide the jack under the lower control arm to hold the spring into place, once the coil spiring is installed

slowly start jacking the lower control arm up.

Carefully guide the upper ball joint shaft into the top of the spindle as you jack the lower control arm up, now install the ball joint nut and tighten.



Now you can lower the jack and remove your internal coil spring compressor, reinstall your front shock, brake caliber and tie rod end to your spindle.

[89-S-Dime]

Quote: Originally Posted by Motosport_21

Done!!!! What a pain in the a$$!!!! Apparently, the spring compressor was a large one and the top of the bolt kept hitting the metal housing above keeping me from compressing it anymore. I finally learned that adding a few washers to the compressor allowed me that much more room to compress.
I also found that jack placement was "key" in this installation. With having the spindle installed on the LCA, you have to put the jack in towards the spring, which screws you up when you lift. You can only lift so high before the body starts to go up. Then you need a second jack(with a small head) to just barely grab the lip by the LCA's ball joint. Once you lift with this one and release the other jack, you can then scoot it back enough to get the small one in the right spot to do the job.
This may only be a factor with my jacks and not others. One of my jacks have a huge head on it and the other a small head, so maybe it is just me......but it's all said and done!!!!! My build thread is listed in my signature.

if your stall having trouble, you can blame those stiff a$$ fabtech coil springs, those springs have a spring rate of 800 lbs per spring, most people can't even compress them enough because of the spring rate

[Motosport_21]

In that pic above, you can see how bowed it is. The reason for this is because the spring compressor bolt hit the top wall(right next to where the shock bolt goes through. It was alot of pressure on the spindle bolts, but once I had a few good turns of the nut on both upper and lower ball joints, I loosened up the compressor and the spring staightened up.

[89-S-Dime]

cool, If those springs are too stiff for you you can always go with a 2'-2.5" lift spring later

[99Silverado]

I had to cut the end down on the tool so the stupid thing would fit into the top of the spring pocket. Once cranked down the stud stuck so far up. Is it just me or are the 5664 coils a pain to compress? Was using a ratchet and a breaker bar just to be able to compress it once it got to a certain point.

[89-S-Dime]

They are a bitch to compress, some poeple even use a torque wrench to compress the coils

[99Silverado]

89-S-Dime maybe you can help me. I was wondering if with the lift shackles and the 5664 coils would I be able to fit a 30X9.5X15 under that lift? A 31 would be nice if it only requires a little trimming. I am looking for something that wont make me lose any turning radius. They would be going on the stock rim.

[What?]

You can put 31s with 5664, easier with 3" spindle.

[bp1983]

so if i were to install Moog 5662 on my 2wd v6, what shocks would you recommend, I only want 1-2 inches lift.

thanks for all the info, learned a great deal from browsing this forum.

[89-S-Dime]

you can run stock shocks with moog 5662's, 5664's or even lift spindles, however a shock upgrade would be nice, Bilsteins maybe?

[bp1983]

Quote: Originally Posted by 89-S-Dime

you can run stock shocks with moog 5662's, 5664's or even lift spindles, however a shock upgrade would be nice, Bilsteins maybe?

easy enough, i was planning on this to be some sort of research project. thanks for such a quick answer

[89-S-Dime]

your welcome