Front Coil Spring Removal

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   You need to grab the coil as close to the spring seat as possible on both sides. Looks like it might work if you do -- like gremlin1945 stated already.

There is an alternative IF the engine and trans are still in. I've done this many times, though most on here will think it's too dangerous... so be warned! With the front wheels on the ground and engine/trans in car, turn the wheels all the way to one side. Get under car and measure the distance between the holes on the "ears" of the spring seats. Get a piece of 1/8" thick by 3/8" or 1/2" wide steel bar, about 8" long. Bend a hook in one end. Measure the amount between the ear holes plus about 1/4" on the bar and bend a hook in the other end. Get back under the car and see if you can hook the bar on the top spring seat ear. You may have to sharpen the bend or narrow it a bit (especially if you used 1/2" bar). You don't need much to hook the ear. The bottom of the bar should hook into the bottom ear. You might need to reach up and pull down on the fender or have a helper lean on it to get the hook on, and you may have to alter the hook. Once you have one that fits bend up another. Then turn the wheels the opposite direction and put the bar on the other side. 

With both bars in place slowly jack the car up by the body or crossmember until the bars are in tension but springs are still in place. At this point you need to disconnect the shock at the lower arm. That allows the suspension to drop a bit further. Jack the car the rest of the way up, but carefully watch the spring. It shouldn't bow out, but I always watch it to make sure it is holding straight. It CAN bow out on 64-69 American/Javelin/AMX models due to the design of the bushing in the upper trunnion. There isn't that much play even in a worn out big car upper trunnion though. 

Once it has been verified that the spring is holding straight, jack the car up and push the tire down as far as you can. You can now carefully remove the spring. I just set it down right under the floor of the car, where you can set the car back on the spring at the sill ("frame" rail) where it flattens under the floor. As long as the spring seats are in good condition this has proven perfectly safe. I even dropped one of the springs from about a foot up once, no movement in the hooks (but it sure gave me a start!). Be careful, as they do have a lot of tension on them, but this has proven safe. Set the car down on the spring and remove hooks, then jack up and remove spring. Put new spring under car, let it down, install hooks, and put the spring back in. I have had both springs out at the same time and stored for a few days in the hooks, but prefer to do one at a time and swap them right away.

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farna Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Supporter of TheAMCForum Moderator Lost Dealership Project Joined: Jul/08/2007 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 19675	Post Options Post Reply Quote farna Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/10/2017 at 11:32am
	You need to grab the coil as close to the spring seat as possible on both sides. Looks like it might work if you do -- like gremlin1945 stated already. There is an alternative IF the engine and trans are still in. I've done this many times, though most on here will think it's too dangerous... so be warned! With the front wheels on the ground and engine/trans in car, turn the wheels all the way to one side. Get under car and measure the distance between the holes on the "ears" of the spring seats. Get a piece of 1/8" thick by 3/8" or 1/2" wide steel bar, about 8" long. Bend a hook in one end. Measure the amount between the ear holes plus about 1/4" on the bar and bend a hook in the other end. Get back under the car and see if you can hook the bar on the top spring seat ear. You may have to sharpen the bend or narrow it a bit (especially if you used 1/2" bar). You don't need much to hook the ear. The bottom of the bar should hook into the bottom ear. You might need to reach up and pull down on the fender or have a helper lean on it to get the hook on, and you may have to alter the hook. Once you have one that fits bend up another. Then turn the wheels the opposite direction and put the bar on the other side. With both bars in place slowly jack the car up by the body or crossmember until the bars are in tension but springs are still in place. At this point you need to disconnect the shock at the lower arm. That allows the suspension to drop a bit further. Jack the car the rest of the way up, but carefully watch the spring. It shouldn't bow out, but I always watch it to make sure it is holding straight. It CAN bow out on 64-69 American/Javelin/AMX models due to the design of the bushing in the upper trunnion. There isn't that much play even in a worn out big car upper trunnion though. Once it has been verified that the spring is holding straight, jack the car up and push the tire down as far as you can. You can now carefully remove the spring. I just set it down right under the floor of the car, where you can set the car back on the spring at the sill ("frame" rail) where it flattens under the floor. As long as the spring seats are in good condition this has proven perfectly safe. I even dropped one of the springs from about a foot up once, no movement in the hooks (but it sure gave me a start!). Be careful, as they do have a lot of tension on them, but this has proven safe. Set the car down on the spring and remove hooks, then jack up and remove spring. Put new spring under car, let it down, install hooks, and put the spring back in. I have had both springs out at the same time and stored for a few days in the hooks, but prefer to do one at a time and swap them right away.
	Frank Swygert

tomj Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Jan/27/2010 Location: earth Status: Offline Points: 7539	Post Options Post Reply Quote tomj Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/10/2017 at 10:40pm
	i dont understand why you are not using the hooks AMC provided on the spring hats. you can see them in the photo you posted! they make this job VASTLY easier and safe. you dont need a spring compressor at all to remove springs from the 10 and 80 series 1960's cars. * with the car on the ground, jack up the diagonal-opposite corner of the spring you want to remove of the car, very high up. * sit on the fender of the spring. this squashes the remaining stiction out. * measure the distance between the pair of holes in the spring hats each side. * make a spring-compression-retainer out of two strips of steel, 3/16" or thicker. drill holes so that you can put short (1.25"?) 7/16" bolts with two nuts, so the head sticks out a bit. * place one on each side, bolt heads into the hole. * un-jack the rear wheel. * spring sits on the knuckle seat and you can lift it out. i get the hats and retainers off by placing the spring-hand grenade under the rocker area below the drivers door, lower the car onto it. it squashes the spring enough to take the retainers off. jack the car up to get the spring out. i actually use short lengths of 1/4" link chain and some big-a** S oversized hooks i cut to fit (much shorter hook on the hat end).
	1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto 1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5 http://www.ramblerLore.com

billd Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: Jun/27/2007 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 30894	Post Options Post Reply Quote billd Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/10/2017 at 11:15pm
	Agreed - it's really simple if the opposite rear corner is jacked up to put more pressure on the front corner you are trying to hook. the only real thing you have to "figure out" or think about much at all is removing the holders from the springs once they are out...... but I have had great luck as has been said here before many many times - and even in this thread - the car sub-frame itself, a lift, or a press - or make a tool out of very heavy threaded rod, etc. These tools here have served me well for several decades, never failed me on the pre-1970 AMCs.........
	http://theamcpages.com http://antique-engines.com

SentencedToBurn Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Fan Joined: Dec/09/2017 Location: New Zealand Status: Offline Points: 21	Post Options Post Reply Quote SentencedToBurn Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/11/2017 at 3:42am
	Thanks everyone. Since that post I've read up a bunch of stuff on trunnion suspension and also this tool that is provided from factory (that I don't have) but seems it's pretty straight forward to go around that. The spring compressors are like that because intially that was all I could grab hold of, so the compressor on the left was as wide as it woudl go, then once it collapsed a bit I tried getting the 2nd one in, and you can see the result. Either way, wrong way to do it - this is the first time I came across this suspension so had 0 idea. So appreciate all your input, seems like it's just a different design which requires different techniques.

farna Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Supporter of TheAMCForum Moderator Lost Dealership Project Joined: Jul/08/2007 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 19675	Post Options Post Reply Quote farna Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/11/2017 at 7:03am
	The only issue with the factory "hooks" is that they require the spring to be tightly compressed. That's why the factory directions are to jack the opposite rear corner of the car up -- puts maximum weight on the spring. It's got to be jacked WAY up! The more the spring is compressed, the more dangerous it is. My method doesn't compress the spring as much. Use my method to measure, then make the retainers like TomJ does instead of bending hooks if you prefer (or use chains). The shield around the spring on the factory hooks are to keep it from bowing out. If you don't compress that much there is little chance of the spring bowing out though. On the big cars the "GaryJav" tool won't work as the upper spring seat is tighter (smaller diameter) than on the 64-69 American and Javelin models. It would probably work on the 58-63 Americans though, IIRC.
	Frank Swygert

billd Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: Jun/27/2007 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 30894	Post Options Post Reply Quote billd Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/11/2017 at 10:22am
	Actually, no, they don't compress it that much more. If you have a helper, all the helper needs to do is lean on the fender. the jacking the rear corner is for doing it alone so you can get the hooks to hook and seat while by yourself. We used to have one of us hold the tool next to the spring while the other pushed down on the fender a bit. In short, it's holding it compressed not much more at all than the weight of the car itself. Not a problem. And the factory tools ensure it can't bow out - it just simply doesn't happen with them. They are safe, have done many many cars with 'em. No bowing, no problem. And as I'm pointed out several times before over the last ten years here - once the factory holders are in the holes and the spring pressure is against 'em, it can't bow anyway as that would require the spring expand a bit. There's some science and geometry to the factory design. For the spring to BOW out on one side, it must COMPRESS or be pulled in on the other. Hmmm, pressure on the spring prevents that so with the factory hooks in place, the spring can't bow - and the reason is that for one side to expand the other side must compress. What's going to push the one side in so the other side can bow out? Right - it can't. It's in the design of the spring "cups" and the tool - they hook away from the spring ends a bit making them pretty darned safe. We've had cars apart for days and left the springs in the tools and never even worried about them......... i've never seen of a first-hand, verified account of a spring that was PROPERLY HOOKED in the factory tools coming out or apart - and if they did, you can bet AMC dealers wouldn't have used those tools. (I only hear of "I had a buddy who said his neighbor had a father-in-law" type of stories) Unless you have used these and done the math, I can see where people make the mistake of seeing them as risky or dangerous but they simply are not, and no, they don't compress the spring as much as you are claiming. It doesn't have to be jacked "WAY up" - sorry, I've done a few, and all we did was have the other person lean on the fender in MOST CASES. I was simply listing the one-person way to make it SIMPLE. If you have a buddy, or a big dog like a Doberman, have them push down on the fender, you'll get the factory tools hooked just fine.
	http://theamcpages.com http://antique-engines.com

gremlin1945 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: May/21/2008 Location: new jersey Status: Offline Points: 781	Post Options Post Reply Quote gremlin1945 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/11/2017 at 11:59am
	For what it's worth I took the Springs out of the front of my 64 wagon with the engine out I lifted the opposite rear end up high and laid over the front fender and popped in the JerryJav compressor that I got and everything worked out fine but you have to do one side at a time with that unless you have two of the tools. By the way I offered the original poster by email the use of my compressor and I never got a response back Edited by gremlin1945 - Dec/11/2017 at 12:05pm
	former NHRA #1945 former IHRA #1945 T/SA

farna Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Supporter of TheAMCForum Moderator Lost Dealership Project Joined: Jul/08/2007 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 19675	Post Options Post Reply Quote farna Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/12/2017 at 6:10am
	The one I had to jack so high in the rear was a 61-63 American. They have a much taller spring than the 64+ models (63+ Classic). The factory hooks I borrowed may have been intended for the later model American, but fit the diameter of the early American spring perfectly. Might be why I had to put so much pressure on them to get compressed enough for the hooks. Anyway, the method I use to make hooks just compress them about 1/4" more than sitting with the engine in -- don't have to jack rear end up at all -- but do have to disconnect shock and push the suspension down as far as it will go to get the spring out. Might not compress the later model springs any/much less than the later model factory hooks.
	Frank Swygert

Lyle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/17/2014 Location: None Status: Offline Points: 772	Post Options Post Reply Quote Lyle Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/12/2017 at 9:10am
	If you use the ears of the spring seats please inspect them for corrosion at the ring and at the spring seat area. Here in the rust belt the spring seat area is known to corrode and may not be up to the task of retaining the spring pressure. Also it's unpredictable, if it is corroded, as to when it decides to let go. I had to replace two of four in my rebuild as they were corroded to half or less of their original thickness. If using the ears I also like to take a piece of shim stock and a gear clamp(s) to make a "shield" around the center of the spring (wrap it). This will prevent the spring from bowing out. Use to do this with relief valve springs at work that were much, bigger.

348AMX Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/03/2007 Location: Massachusetts Status: Offline Points: 4165	Post Options Post Reply Quote 348AMX Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Dec/12/2017 at 9:14am
	to get the springs out you dont even need a spring holder/compressor at all; just put a jack stand under the factory jacking notch on the rocker then put a floor jack under the lower control arm at the balljoint, with enough pressure to compress it slightly then unbolt the lower control arm bolt and the strut rod and simply slowly let the floor jack lower it down and the spring will just fall out.