changing front springs

[RRX-007]

g'day everyone.

im changing the front springs in my ke70 hopefully tomorow.
and was wondering how hard it is?
is it as easy un-doing the strut top and taking it off and swaping them over then putting the strut top back on and bolting that up?

any help would be muchly appreciated.
cheers

[ae86]

how big r the springs ? may need a spring clamp/compressor to put new ones back in

[RRX-007]

they going to be shorter than stock but dunno how much yet. 1.5 - 2 inches most prob. my mates dad a mechanic so can get springs clamps easy.

[Cerby86]

well one thing to watch is the strut top popping off when you undo the top nut.

So heres what i do when i change springs.
I use a rattle gun (sometimes i can get away with using a ratchet) to crack the top nut on the shock. Crack the wheel nuts.
Then jack it up and remove the wheels.
undo the two bolts on the bottom of the strut.
Undo the three bolts around strut top.
Now unseat the strut from the steering arm and lower the strut out of the car.
I find the easiest way to get the strut to unseat from the steering arm is to stand next to the car put one foot on the control arm and pull up on the strut and press down on the arm with your foot.

So if you don't have any spring compressors and the spring is too long to just bolt up there is a sneaky way of getting them back together.
sit the spring in the seat, sit the strut top on top of the spring then seat the strut on the steering arm. now the sneaky bit is to stick a jack under the end of the control arm and slowly jack it up. if you reach inside the arch while jacking you can wiggle the strut around to line up the holes. You might need to rotate the shock strut to get it to line up.

Another problem is you might not be able to get the bolt on the top of the strut to undo because the whole strut might rotate. Mostly people solve this by using a rattle gun.
but if you don't have one, or like me have one which is conveniently broken when you go to use it, pull the whole strut out and then clamp the highest part of the spring to the strut top. then use a ratchet on the bolt while pushing the opposite way on the clamp. this way uses the flat it on the top of the strut to stop the strut from spinning around, but the second that flat bit sinks below the strut top it will start spinning again it should be loose enough at that point to undo by hand!

[Cerby86]

oops double post

[driftke70]

multi grips with a rag over them works good, if your new springs arnt captive either save for a shorter shock setup or make sure you wire tie the springs in to the seat really well.