Hi all

I've removed the front coil springs from my HJ Caprice as part of replacing bushes, etc. The springs are STANDARD size, not lowered.

I'm now having tremendous trouble getting them back in. I purchased (without thinking about it) a coil spring compressor - the type that uses screw type clamps on the outside of either side of the spring. However, as the top of the coil spring goes up into a "well", the compressor gets in the road and is largely useless.

I did managed to get springs back in to a HQ some years ago, details I can't recall exactly, but I seem to recall the use of a crow-bar and force. However, this was a 6 cylinder with Trimatic - the HJ Caprice is a 308 with Turbo box - I assume the springs in the Statesman would be stronger.

Can anyone provide a method for re-installation that will not see me fronting up to the ED at my local hospital with a gash in my head?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

Thanks HK1837. These are standard size, though....

Holden had a specific type of spring compressor to fit these that fits in the space provided. When I did my hz a few years back all I could do was mount the spring in place... shocky in and fixed to lower control arm and raise the lower control arm with a jack slowly until I could safely get a nut on top of the shock. No problems but I took my time.
Otherwise pay a suspension mob is my guess.

with a standard height V8 type spring, you really have to use the proper "bent" type holden "Litchfield" spring compressor or else you be there for a month of sundays, and you will hurt yourself in some form

like this http://www.ebay.com.au/i...n_15&hash=item3f3a0de9e9

Interesting. Will this work for the HJ?

Matt, this is a Sunday afternoon spring compressor I built for my HT. It's something like what Tony and We-wreck mentioned. It should, in principle, work on your HJ.

Mine is M12 allthread, with a kink at the bottom of about 15 degrees. Because the lower control arm pivots and changes angle as it compresses the spring you need to allow for a swivel on the bottom to avoid bending the allthread bar. I've used a Chev rocker arm pivot ball in a suitable hole in the bottom plate to allow for the change in bottom arm angle as you tension the spring.
Note the thick oversized washers, just in case the pivot ball pulls through the bottom plate, and the double nuts at each end. As you tension the spring, keep the safety nut within a turn or two of the tension nut.
there is also a large ring on the bottom portion to fit in a recess in the lower control arm on HT, which I've since tack welded onto the bottom plate. Your lower control arm is different, and may need a slightly different arrangement. The bottom plate is 4mm. There is also a step washer I made on the top, the smaller diameter of which fits into the shock absorber hole in the spring tower. All of this is to centre the allthread bar in the top shock absorber hole, and the larger hole in the lower control arm and avoid using the allthread as a low speed milling machine, damaging the holes through which it passes. I also didn't want to scratch the paint!

If you can only get galvanised allthread, wire brush the galvanising off each end of it, and/or run a die nut over the thread. Galvanising is a rough surface finish, and the last thing you need when you tighten this up is excess friction. For the same reason, use plated nuts, and not galvanised ones. Use plenty of lubricant, such as WD40 spray, as you tighten it up.

Common or garden variety allthread is good for about 400Mpa tensile stress, so a piece of M12 allthread will take a tensile load of about 3400kg, and M16 about 6400kg.
If your spring has a rate of 700 lb/inch (a guess) and you need to compress it 3 inches (another guess) you will have a load of about 950kg in your allthread, which is safe for both M12 and M16.

When you tension it, keep well clear of the lower control arm, and the area where the spring will exit the front end should anything let go. It's never happened to me, but the compressed spring has a large amount of stored energy, which you do not want to absorb with your soft bits.

Good luck,
Geoff

Matt,
1/ The "knee" in the allthread should face the stub axle. You may need to readjust this as you go. The goal is to maintain the lower section of allthread at something like a right angle to the lower control arm when you start tensioning. If you check the link
We-wreck posted it shows a holden drawing showing positioning of the compressor.
2/ I wouldn't even dream of having the control arm loose. The inner bushes form a hinge/fulcrum that we know is rated for full spring load, so we should use it.

I assume in all of this that jacking under the end of the control arm against the weight of the car hasn't worked for you for some reason, correct?

That makes sense, Geoff (the photos do as well). I also concur re only doing this with the control arm attached.

I have tried to use a heavy duty trolley jack under the outer end of the lower control arm. I have the front end of the car sitting up quite high on stands at the moment, so plenty of clearance. The motor (V8) and transmission (T400) are still in it, so no issue with lifting of the stands.

The issue is to get the coil as high as possible in the "home" position, the spot where it slides up into is not only aligned by the outside of the coil spring "chute", it also fits over a "form" on the INSIDE of the coil. The "form" is, maybe, 60mm deep. The effect of this is the coil really can only go un into position at the top on one angle (with a little movement). This has the effect of loosely aligning the coil on the angle it's on when in the normal compressed position - i.e., angling out towards the stub axle. Due to the radius path of the control arm, as it comes around to the uncompressed spring, the inner side of the coil spring first makes contact with the control arm roughly around the outer edge of the shock mount hole. As I then jack the control arm up, it puts pressure on the spring - you had kick or hammer it in a little, but then as you jack more, more pressure is put on the spring and you're simply unable to move the bottom into the "well" in the control arm where the spring needs to finally rest.

I have done this before, many years ago, and am sure I used this method. However, I realised only last week that was on a 6cyl, HQ which likely had lighter, more flexible springs. Also, whilst the springs that came with the Statesman are standard height, I'm not totally convinced they are the original ones - the springs I managed to get into my 6cyl HQ some years ago were original and probably a bit "sadder".

Matt,

If you cannot get the spring started in the control arm recess the HT type compressor won't work, as it seats on the outside of the lower control arm. If that's the case, you need to compress the spring separately. The Holden tool for this case is 3A15 and looks like this:

http://pages.ebay.com/li...id=281519553945&alt=web

If you can fabricate the bottom plate, the same approach as the HT compressor should work.

Matty, e-mail sent. AL.

Edited by user Sunday, 19 July 2015 9:07:37 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified