Any ideas on a front end rebuild?

[Chevystep]

Yeah, I know how to do it....WITH the engine in and body on, but a buddy has pulled all that and just has a naked frame he's restoring. And he wants to rebuild the front end, so how does he jack stand it up and slowly lower that A frame with the spring in it when there ain't no weight to keep it on the jack stands? He's thinking of putting a chunk of plywood on it and just keep stacking weight on it. FWIW....I told to wait until everything is back on it so the A frame can be slowly lowered with the floor jack until the coil comes out. Ideas?

[Chevy Fleetside]

spring compressor .

[forestb]

Here is the name of the thread and a link that answers the same question.

Remove front a-arms/spring tension when frame only??

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=frame+springs

[Chevystep]

Hah! He even mentioned bags of concrete on his frame! I like the tool method a little bit better, though....thanks fellers...I'll pass this along...

[TJ's Chevy]

Careful with spring compressors....they can snap in a heart beat...I snapped an American made compressor right in my hands. lol Made me jump. I jacked up the underside of the A-arm and used the front of my tractor's weight to compress the coil. Work well and is a slow safe way.

[old cruiser]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Careful with spring compressors....they can snap in a heart beat...I snapped an American made compressor right in my hands. lol Made me jump. I jacked up the underside of the A-arm and used the front of my tractor's weight to compress the coil. Work well and is a slow safe way.

Use a spring compressor and if it worries you wire the spring aswell

[joedoh]

its not a firecracker, and by that I mean it does not have explosive potential energy just sitting there. the potential energy in a spring is an exponential curve based on how much weight is in it.

unbolting the balljoint with a completely loaded front end (engine in, trans in, sheetmetal and bumper on, garage pal sitting seductively on a fender) is a BAD idea, the potential energy storage is huge, firecracker type.

with a bare frame, the potential energy of the spring is only the weight that can compress it, which on a bare frame is not a lot, snap pop type. The only trouble I have ever had is putting it back together with no weight, and standing on the crossmember while my wife put the balljoint nut on a few threads.

I would throw a chain through the coils just in case it wants to jump out at you, otherwise, loosen balljoint nut (DO NOT REMOVE), whack the spindle like you are persuading it strongly (NOT THE BALLJOINT), when the balljoint comes loose the nut will keep it on. stand on the crossmember with a jack under the arm and you should be able to spin the castle nut the rest of the way off, step off crossmember and viola.

your results may vary though.

[Bradydz]

I just took apart my front end last weekend, bare frame like you're talking about. Had my shop crane holding the frame up a bit, and i used my jack under the lower control arm, loosened (not removed) castle nut on ball joint, and used a pickle fork to get the ball joint separated. Once the ball joint was clear, i took the nut off, there was still plenty of support from the jack. stood away from the possible path for the spring, lowered the jack slowly, it stayed right where it's supposed to.

[63longfleet]

I actualy used the sacks of concrete method. it took 8 bags to create enough weight to get it done. but easy as pie at that point