Front coil spring question

[brandster]

Messed with my front end suspension until it was dark last night, just noticed this morning that my front coil on drivers side looks good, but the bottom edge of coil is not rested against the stop notch in the lower control arm. Is that a big issue? Not really wanting to have to remove all this again. Thanks

[kwmech]

How far away is it?

[brandster]

Originally Posted by kwmech

How far away is it?

Probably 2 inches

[Rust_never_sleeps]

<text removed here, cuz I'm an idjit, move along, nothing to see here>

Guessing yours is lowered, because it's not easy to get mine back together with the spring out of the pocket. ;-)

[dmjlambert]

This has me thinking about mine because I bolted the plate of the upper ball joint to the top side of the upper control arm where the old one was riveted on. Should I have bolted it to the under side?

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

This has me thinking about mine because I bolted the plate of the upper ball joint to the top side of the upper control arm where the old one was riveted on. Should I have bolted it to the under side?

Nope, you got it correct: right where the old one was:

https://www.lmctruck.com/1967-72-che...-2-wheel-drive

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Originally Posted by Rust_never_sleeps

Nope, you got it correct: right where the old one was:

https://www.lmctruck.com/1967-72-che...-2-wheel-drive

...which means I'm wrong about what you have to remove.

[Rust_never_sleeps]

You'd have to undo the castle nut, pop one of the balljoints out of the spindle,(preferably top) but it's not hard when you've just put it back together. Never mind how I know

[dmjlambert]

Originally Posted by Rust_never_sleeps

...which means I'm wrong about what you have to remove.

I thought you might be getting ready to reveal a neat-o trick. :-) I watched a video on youtube where a guy showed how to remove the riveted-on upper ball joint on a C-10, and it was not a 5 minute job. He worked and worked and worked on it. It made me feel better about how I struggled with mine.

[dmjlambert]

I got this style of separator from Harbor Freight and was able to use it for the tie rods and the upper ball joint.

The only thing it would not fit is the lower ball joint, so for that I rented the pickle fork separator from the auto parts store. The pickle fork is destructive to the rubber covers, but the one pictured was really neat and easy, makes a loud pop that is a little nerve-wrecking. It made it easier to un-do and re-do, like it seems I have to do on every job, unfortunately.

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

I thought you might be getting ready to reveal a neat-o trick. :-) I watched a video on youtube where a guy showed how to remove the riveted-on upper ball joint on a C-10, and it was not a 5 minute job. He worked and worked and worked on it. It made me feel better about how I struggled with mine.

Mine both fought me every tenth of an inch. You'd think I'd have remembered what side they were on ;-)

[Ironangel]

With the wheels jacked up off the ground, jack on center crossmember. Use a pipe wrench with a cheater bar to rotate the spring in the pocket until it hits the stop. Jacking the wheels off the ground unloads the springs enough to be rotated without taking the ball joint loose...