[lgladdis]

it was still worth it

$40.00 for 6 feet of 2 inch square steel, $12.00 for the two arm puller and only $4.00 for the threaded rod, washers and nuts. One hour to get my new MIG welder functioning properly, and about a half hour to cut the pieces and drill the hole.

Tonight it was less than 15 minutes to put the spring compressor in place and remove the nuts and bolts that I had sprayed with rust buster on the weekend. Once I got started, this was the easiest job I've ever done on my GT.

My thanks to Keith and the rest of you that took the time to post your suspension tips and tricks. As a safety coordinator I have no choice but to do the job the right way. Imagine going to work and trying to explain bandages or a cast or worse?

thanks again guys!

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

Ron, take a look at Matcos site. https://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/MSTPA643/PITMAN-ARM-PULLER/ It appears that it is the same one only a lot cheaper in price. Wish I'd seen it sooner. Jarrell

 

[GTJIM (R.I.P.)]

Liability!

Perhaps we need a liability waiver on this thread in deference to out American cousins.

No liability expressed or implied in the design or use of this item.
For educational purposes only - use at your own risk after expert assesment of the safety proceedures.

Or something like that.

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

Just a quick update on the Spring Compressor that I made according to Keiths instructions. Worked great!! No problems at all. I wasn't as fast taking things apart, as I wrote everything down on a legal pad, and tagged everything that came off the front suspension. Thanks again for the article and help. Jarrell

 

[GTJIM (R.I.P.)]

Slightly Different ...

Here is the setup I made to control the front spring. A little different in that it has a clamp made from two bits of box-section and some 'all-thread' that clamps around the whole front crosmember rather than attaching to the 'eye' on the spring centre clamp. Worked very well and completely without any drama.

 

[azopelnut]

front suspension

Keith
When you rebuilt your from suspension did you put any material (teflon?) between the leaf springs??
I understand it makes a big difference
How are things in the great north? Most of your fellow Canadians seem to be wintering down here in Yuma.

 

[kwilford]

Keith
When you rebuilt your from suspension did you put any material (teflon?) between the leaf springs?? I understand it makes a big difference

Indeed I did. The rubber spacers at the ends had perished somewhat, and instead of replacing them, I slid a sheet of teflon, approximately 1/16 inch thick, in between the leafs. I can't tell if it helped, as the front suspension clip is still on the floor. And the GT is still in the air...

How are things in the great north? Most of your fellow Canadians seem to be wintering down here in Yuma.

Winter so far has been mild and late. Hardly any snow in them thar mountains and not enough cold weather in the far north to freeze up the muskeg to allow the winter drilling to get started.

 

[GTJIM (R.I.P.)]

When you rebuilt your from suspension did you put any material (teflon?) between the leaf springs??

The spring on mine has the leaves spaced apart with an airgap between them as standard. The rubber end pieces have deteriorated though and I think a teflon block each end, machined to look like the original rubber bits, will work quite well. The leaves are definately not designed to "stack" together like most conventional leaf springs. No doubt it is just another Opel inovation.

 

[bear]

Jim, et.al., I may have to go out and look at my spring, but I believe there are 5 rubber spacers in the springs, one at each end, one in the center, under the strap that holds all three springs together, and one between the ends and center. Whether or not they are spaced between the three springs I'm not sure, the reason I said I should look at mine. I'm fairly lucky in that my rubber spacers have not deteriorated into rubber dust and are still, somewhat usable. Although I do plan to inject some teflon grease between the springs before I install the front suspension.

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

Jim, et.al., I may have to go out and look at my spring, but I believe there are 5 rubber spacers in the springs, one at each end, one in the center, under the strap that holds all three springs together, and one between the ends and center. Whether or not they are spaced between the three springs I'm not sure, the reason I said I should look at mine. I'm fairly lucky in that my rubber spacers have not deteriorated into rubber dust and are still, somewhat usable. Although I do plan to inject some teflon grease between the springs before I install the front suspension.

Ron, when I rebuilt my rusty front end this summer, I only found 3 rubber spacers. The ones at the ends on the center spring and the one in the middle. The ones on the ends of the center spring were riveted in place. I added some pieces of teflon between the ends of the springs secured by JB Weld and some Teflon grease and they appear to be working fine. Jarrell

 

[bear]

I looked at the spring in the light of day a bit ago and what it looks like, is a rubber strip under the center containment strap that holds all three leafs together, one between the center leaf and the bottom leaf at the LCA attach point and one between the top and center leaf between the center and ends, for a total of 5 spacers. But it is hard so see it clearly when it's installed in the main beam.

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

My fault Ron, You are correct. There are 5 Spacers. I missed the ones at the LCA attach points. Enclosed are 2 pictures I took when I tore it down. The 2nd picture is the one at the LCA. Jarrell

 

[kwilford]

On mine, the "rubber wedges" were still good, but the end pieces were perished. I installed a 12 inch long sheet of 1/16" teflon, the width of the leaf, at the end between each leaf.

And Jarrell, NICE spring compressor! Man, I thought I was looking at my suspension for a minute!

 

[kwilford]

still looks mighty dangerous, does any one have any ideas for further safetys or anything to prevent an impaling?

The key is really the "puller". I like the one shown, because it has a set of cross-bolts that actively clamp it to the leaf clamp. But be sure to grind the puller's edges a bit so that it slips right under the leaf clamp. If the puller lets go, it won't be a pretty picture!

GTJim's tool (shown in a previous post on this thread) also looks good, in that it doesn't rely on the leaf clamp to attach to.

Other than that, I think the device shown (as modeled after the Factory Service Tool) is about as safe as can be made. Just make SURE that the length of the beam is as long as can fit between the brake backing plates when loaded, and the additional spacer is narrow enough so that it doesn't slip off the spring eye ends as the leaf relaxes.

The leaf load isn't as great as I would have thought. But the total deflection (how much the leaf un-bows) was MUCH more than I thought. So also be sure that you have enough threaded rod to allow the leaf to fully relax.

Oh, and regarding disassembling the front suspension under the car without the tool. It isn't too hard to take it apart. It is VERY hard to get it back together, since it can be tricky to get the spring-eye bolts back in with just the adjustment available with a floor jack.

HTH and good luck!

 

[Nathan Acree]

2. I'm replacing my stock spring using the 2" lowering spring from OGTS........will that be as hard to compress when installing it?

The 2" lowering spring is MUCH easier to install than the stock spring without a spring compressing tool. The 2" inch lowering spring has hardly any arch to it- and consequently it makes the car ride pretty hard. Make sure you can live with the ride, and don't forget to cut down the bump stops because you will be hitting them.

Nathan Acree
Albuquerque New Mexico.

 

[bear]

Bosco, to relieve the spring pressure, you have to take out the plate under the pivot point of the LCA, the spring rides on that plate and even when loose at the spring end of the LCA there is still pressure on that plate. I can't relate to a lowered spring setup, I'm still stock. HTH.

WlKelly3, I don't quite understand why you couldn't compress the spring with the weight of just the car, I had the engine and tranny out of my 72 GT and put it all together no problem with just a floor jack and bottle jack. As a matter of fact the whole car is gutted with nothing in it. Wierd.

 

[nobody]

It's best to remove the spring perch the same way you would remove the connection to the LCA. The difference in those 2 springs is pretty obvious once you get the old one out. The ride isn't very severe and it does look alot better. Remember to rotate the upper ball joints and a good assortment of drift punches is handy to realign that spring to the LCA connections. Keep in mind that the stock spring completely unsprung is quite U shaped so it requires a pretty good lift of the front end to remove it.

Only other thing is to make note of all speed bumps in your town. Or make sure you have a road hazard warranty on your exhaust.

If you lower the rear as well it requires some panhard rod changes. a 2 inch drop in the rear puts the stock setup below fulcrum and the rod becomes too short.

A good antisway bar is a good addition to the rear as that front spring really stiffens it up.

I and a few others have done this and the change in the car is pretty dramatic.

 

[bear]

Bosco, once you have the tension of the spring taken up by a bottle jack or floor jack at the LCA, you can remove the plate on that side. On mine it was a little testy, I couldn't get a socket or wrench on the 15mm bolt head to hold it while I spun off the nut on the front bolt, I think, any way perserverance paid off and I got the bolt out, either with vise grips or wedging a flat screwdriver blade in there, don't remember which worked. Make notice of which holes are used in the plates and don't lose the washers, special shape to those, at least on mine. HTH.

 

[Bosco2]

Thanks to both for the answers....I currently have an anti-sway bar on the front...will I need to remove it permanently or change the mounting points once I use the new lowering spring???? I have a rear addco bar that I've never been able to install as it seems to have the (over the torque tube) bend in the wrong spot and hits the body.

Also....on the panhard rod....I'm not sure how to modify it...but if the cars lowered wont it just move the axle towards one side (drivers side?)...kinda off-center? The car seems to ride fairly nose-up right now so I'm not sure how much I'm going to need to cut down the rear springs anyway.

I have all new bushings for the upper and lower control arms and I'm thinking this is a good time to do all those....correct? The upper arms look to be fairly easy to remove it's just those lower ones.... I assume I'll have to remove the lower ball joint attachment to get the LCA out from under the car to change the bushings......do I need a puller or will loosening the nut a bit then hitting it with a hammer knock it loose?

As you can tell I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous.

 

[bear]

Bosco, Changing the bushings with the front suspension out is a good plan, you may want to think about getting spring end bushings and new rubber for the steering rack too. I didn't remove the lower ball joint to replace the bushings, just loosen the nut, smack it right smartly and it will separate from the spindle. It has to be pressed out of the LCA. Protect the spindle and the balljoint shaft, they are both tapered to fit and little dings don't help. The upper balljoint will come out of the UCA by removing the two bolts holding them together. Anything other than stock suspension, I can't help you with, I'm still box stock on mine. HTH.