Rebuilding the front Suspension on my '66

[Greg Y.]

Planning on getting started on this the next few days... Looking forward to it but some I've talked to have said that unless the body is off it's pretty tough to get the job done what with the tight quarters in the wheelwells.... What say you?

Second question: It's a small block so will the lower A-Arm drop down low enough to get the spring out or will I need to compress it before I pull it out?

Thanks in advance

[Gene M.]

Re: Rebuilding the front Suspension on my '66

Greg
Just make sure you have the car high enough off the ground to allow the lower arm to drop enough in order to clear the spring. Also I would assume you are removing the lower A arm to replace ball joints and bushings. Be careful the spring has a lot of energy so run a chain thru it to keep it out of your face or flying out.

This job can be done with the body on. It's done all the time. But a body off does make things easier. But enough weight is necessary to leave on the car to combat the spring force.

[Donald H.]

Re: Rebuilding the front Suspension on my '66

You can do everything with the body on the car. What do you intend to rebuild?

If you are just doing the ball joints, then you will need to compress the spring to get the steering knuckle off to allow for ball joint replacement. You can also do the upper control arm cross shaft bushings without removing the spring. If you intend to also replace the lower control arm cross shaft bushings then you will need to remove the spring.

If you do some searching you'll find a number of recommended approaches for removing and reinstall the front springs. Following is just one link:

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...ghlight=spring

Don

[Jim T.]

Re: Rebuilding the front Suspension on my '66

I have removed the front springs on my 1968 and my 1970 using a floor jack with only running chain through the spring and lower control arms to relieve the spring pressure. Used the same procedure with chain to install the springs.

[Greg Y.]

Re: Rebuilding the front Suspension on my '66

Thanks for all the replies...