How Does
Installing Coil Springs on a Truck
By Don Bowman
eHow Contributing Writer
Rate: 
(0 Ratings)
-
When installing coil springs on a truck or any vehicle, it is important to know that the springs have incredible compression pressure and can be fatal if the proper precautions are not followed. Coil springs are only needed if the ride height has dropped or for a performance enhancement.
Raise and support the front of the vehicle with the jack stands. Remove the front tires. Remove the front calipers by taking the two bolts out of the caliper and hang it up so it does not hang by the hose. Remove the cotter pins from both top and bottom ball joints. Remove the shocks. Place the floor jack under the lower control arm under the hole for the shock where it is as close to the lower ball joint as possible. Raise the floor jack until it just begins to raise the lower control arm. Remove the top, upper control-arm ball-joint retaining nut. Loosen but do not remove the lower ball-joint retaining nut. Keep this nut on with about five threads. Use the ball joint separator and place it in between the upper control arm and the ball joint and hit it with a hammer until it breaks loose. Do the same thing with the bottom, lower control-arm ball joint.
-
Lift the upper control arm up, removing the ball joint stud from the spindle. Remove the lower ball-joint retaining nut. Always stand to the side of the spring--never in front of it--in the event the jack slips off the lower control arm, which would release the compressed spring. Lift the spindle up, removing the lower ball-joint stud from the lower part of the spindle, and remove the spindle. Stand in front of the truck and let the floor jack down very slowly until the spring is no longer compressed. Pull the bottom of the spring outward and remove the spring.
-
Install the new spring by first situating it correctly by rotating it until the bottom end of the spring will settle into the relief in the lower control arm where it is obvious that the end of the spring lays. Insert the top of the spring into the recess behind the upper control arm, and keeping the spring situated properly, push the bottom of the spring in as far as possible.
Raise the floor jack in very small increments each time pushing the bottom of the spring farther into the saddle. When the lower control arm is 40 percent of the way up use the hammer if necessary and hit the bottom of the spring to finish seating the spring into the saddle. Insert the lower ball joint into the lower part of the spindle and install the nut a few threads followed by lifting the upper control arm up and lowering it down, inserting the ball joint stud into the hole in the top of the spindle. Install the nut. Tighten both nuts and install the cotter pins. Remove the floor jack and install the shocks. Install the brake calipers and the wheel. Do the other side the same way.
eHow Article: Installing Coil Springs on a Truck
