romandian

i see people take off the upper arm or the lower arm, take off the caliper/disc or leave it on. whats easiest, what works? pitfalls?

Skyking1992

I just had mine out for some other issues. I took off the two mounting bolts on the lower control arm on one side. These are your alignment bolts - so mark first. Spring will then slip out one side.

romandian

i didnt want to touch the lower arms, so i detached both uppers, no big deal. i didnt feel like fighting the steering knuckles, so i screwed out the linkage. then its possible to twist spring into vertical position and take it out. best to have somebody step on one hub while you pull down on the other one and twist the spring. about 40 minutes taking it easy.

out of interest: if taking off one lower arm only, does the spring really come out? it didnt look like it would on the other side. maybe if you screw the adjusters all the way up? mine are seized beyond hope.

romandian

installing the spring was a bit tricky without a compressor. you have to align the center of the spring (there is a dot) with the center of the pan perfectly. i put some tape on both and marked it. then you alternatively rise the lower arms, first by about 1/2", then by about 1". the spring will move left and right a bit pressing on the pan. by the time you can attach the shocks the rubbers will have moved out enough, so you can bolt them down. i put two pieces of polycarbonate with grease between pan and spring to make the initial sliding easier.

i only issue with this procedure without a compressor is that the ride height bolts get sideloaded. however, the rubber pad on one of them was bent outwards a bit and it still is after install, so it cant be too bad i figure.

Kubs

I just pop off the upper ball joint from the control arm and let the lower arm hang. Then remove the brackets on the frame and the spring comes right out.

romandian

i wanted to avoid this, as my experience with 25 years old ball joints is not exiting.

Kubs

I use one of these tools and it pops right out with minimal effort and doesnt hurt the boot.

3/4" Forged Ball Joint Separator (harborfreight.com)

heggsc5

Every ball joint I've ever separated was with a tap or two from a sledge hammer, including every single ball joint on my 20+ year old C5 lol. Drops right out with no damage.

93Polo

http://ls1howto.com/index.php?article=20

If the ball joint is stubborn a harbor freight ball joint separator will get it. I think many of the HPDE, autox, road racer types prefer the separator as it is easy, and doesn't put shock through the ball joint. Yes I know the knuckle has a pad to strike and it shouldn't cause damage.

romandian

oh, thats a good writeup. unfortunately it didt come up in the search i did on the topic. so he does it just like i did. what i dont agree with though, is the loose spring after lowering the arms. no, there is quite a bit of pressure on the pan. fortunately the spring presses on the edge of the pan so its not a problem.

smitty2919

^Listen to this guy. This is the way

If you haven't done ball joints in a 25 year old car...probably a good idea to swap them out in which at this point...

^Again listen to this guy. I have one also, makes things easy. You don't want to be hammering on aluminum control arms. These cars are not your second cousin half removed only-comes-around-during-birthdays farm truck with cast steel suspension that comes apart with a 5lb sledge hammer.