[Jacfourteen]

Originally Posted by jorgensensc

Thank you for doing this write up. On a side note I would like to add for safety to please use a chain and chain the spring to the upper arm before you even start unbolting ball joints and hitting anything with a hammer. I understand you put a stand under the lower control arm, but if it slips or shifts then you will have a big problem. These springs are under an enormous amount of tension and can shoot out and kill you instantly. By chaining it the spring won't be able to shoot away and hurt you or a loved one. Also be careful letting the spring raise the truck up when releasing the tension. If the other side is on a jack stand it can throw the angle of the truck off causing the truck to fall off the stand.

Not trying to be a wet blanket, just trying to add some safety so nobody dies from something overlooked.
Shawn

Thanks for pointing this out, I'm all about safety too! I should have explained it a little better on these points, when I loosened the ball joint the shaft for the a-arms were both on jackstands and I had a 3 ton floorjack under the springcup so it was secure. When I whacked the spindle the ball joint was still very attached, it was just backed off a couple of turns so that it could pop free of the interference fit. You have to have the tension of the spring still on the ball joint in order for this to work, it is what forces the taper free when you jar it. Like you said the chain would be good insurance to limit the amount of movement it has, you could also leave the wheel on so it could only drop so much. I realized that I also didn't explain the part about how to "jack it up until it started to lift it off of the jackstand", by this I just meant that you jack it up and watch to make sure you have the most lift on it as you can before you pick up the truck. You just watch as you jack it up until it starts to come off of the stand and then lower it down a hair. Thanks again for the good advise.