Hey guys,
I dont really have any pictures from during the install, but wanted to drop some notes for anyone who wanted to change their springs. First of all, I am a beginner. I have great mechanical aptitude (I should since I studied Mechanical Engineering and love cars!), but almost no hand-on experience (Token engineer!). Therefore, when I bought my car, I promised myself that I would install everything myself. Unfortunately, I have broken that promise, since I will have a shop install my full exhaust at the end of May. However, I installed new springs, and will install the MGW shifter, Dynotech d/s, and change the trans oil this weekend. I should have some notes for the latter sometime next week.
Regarding the springs, I would rate the install a 7/10. It was very time consuming because I had no experience and took as many pre-cautions as I could. Furthermore, I did not have the right tools either, so I had to MacGyver a few things. All in all, I had a blast, and I am pleased with the results.
A couple points,
1. Lifting the car is a little nerve racking. I didnt want to damage anything, so I took my time. For the front springs, I raised the car from the front rocker jack point with a TrueForged billet jacking pad. I raised each side with a low profile jack and placed 6" Race Ramp curbs. Then I went under the front k-member ridged area and raised some more, and placed jack stands with wood blocks under the frame rails. The wood blocks work great to distribute the weight of the car onto the frame rail, but you have to be careful to not use pieces of wood with notches in them. I didnt check, and one piece cracked in half @ the notch as I was lowering the car onto the jack stands. It wasnt a big deal but its worth taking your time to check.
2. Lifting the car from the rear was always easy as I lifted from the differential and placed stands at the axle. However, since the suspension needs to be unloaded during the install, you have to use alternate points. With the car off the race ramps, I attempted lifting the rear and placing jack stands under the frame rail towards the rear of the car (similar to what I did on the front). I found that I had to place the jack stands too far towards the front, and during loading, they would starts to tilt off the ground. I tossed that idea out the door and decided to remove the side-pipes so I could get at the area near the lower control arms. I should have done this right off the bat, as there is a great flat spot on the lower control arm's chassis mount.
3. Disassembling the front strut was more annoying then difficult. The center shaft must be held with large pliers or a vice grip to get the strut nut off the top. I had my dad help me with this, as its hard to alone without vice grips. I place an anti-slip rubber between the teeth on the pliers and the shaft. For the first strut it worked great, but the second would still rotate. So I just said hell with the non-slip, a little marring from the teeth at the top of the shaft isnt going to do anything.
4. The cheap strut plate used by Ford on the front struts sucks! I know there is ample warning about it coming apart, but its just as hard to put back together as well, which is where I kept dropping the bearings. Between trying to align the spring and keeping the center shift still to tighten the nut, the ball bearings kept sneaking out of place. Its a pathetic design, but it works and does its job. I cant wait to replace the whole setup with coilovers with the time comes. Remember, this plate also has to be aligned with the bolts that attach to the suspension arms. I screwed this up after re-installing the front strut, but it was a piece of cake to fix.
5. The rear springs as super easy. Not much to comment on regarding those. For the record, I didnt remove the panhard bar because I could get the springs in with it installed.
Lastly, I torqued everything back together before putting the car on the ground. Is there any benefit in going back, raising the car, loosening some of the bolts, placing it back down, and then tightening? Did I do something wrong because I didnt let the car "settle"? Thanks guys.
I dont really have any pictures from during the install, but wanted to drop some notes for anyone who wanted to change their springs. First of all, I am a beginner. I have great mechanical aptitude (I should since I studied Mechanical Engineering and love cars!), but almost no hand-on experience (Token engineer!). Therefore, when I bought my car, I promised myself that I would install everything myself. Unfortunately, I have broken that promise, since I will have a shop install my full exhaust at the end of May. However, I installed new springs, and will install the MGW shifter, Dynotech d/s, and change the trans oil this weekend. I should have some notes for the latter sometime next week.
Regarding the springs, I would rate the install a 7/10. It was very time consuming because I had no experience and took as many pre-cautions as I could. Furthermore, I did not have the right tools either, so I had to MacGyver a few things. All in all, I had a blast, and I am pleased with the results.
A couple points,
1. Lifting the car is a little nerve racking. I didnt want to damage anything, so I took my time. For the front springs, I raised the car from the front rocker jack point with a TrueForged billet jacking pad. I raised each side with a low profile jack and placed 6" Race Ramp curbs. Then I went under the front k-member ridged area and raised some more, and placed jack stands with wood blocks under the frame rails. The wood blocks work great to distribute the weight of the car onto the frame rail, but you have to be careful to not use pieces of wood with notches in them. I didnt check, and one piece cracked in half @ the notch as I was lowering the car onto the jack stands. It wasnt a big deal but its worth taking your time to check.
2. Lifting the car from the rear was always easy as I lifted from the differential and placed stands at the axle. However, since the suspension needs to be unloaded during the install, you have to use alternate points. With the car off the race ramps, I attempted lifting the rear and placing jack stands under the frame rail towards the rear of the car (similar to what I did on the front). I found that I had to place the jack stands too far towards the front, and during loading, they would starts to tilt off the ground. I tossed that idea out the door and decided to remove the side-pipes so I could get at the area near the lower control arms. I should have done this right off the bat, as there is a great flat spot on the lower control arm's chassis mount.
3. Disassembling the front strut was more annoying then difficult. The center shaft must be held with large pliers or a vice grip to get the strut nut off the top. I had my dad help me with this, as its hard to alone without vice grips. I place an anti-slip rubber between the teeth on the pliers and the shaft. For the first strut it worked great, but the second would still rotate. So I just said hell with the non-slip, a little marring from the teeth at the top of the shaft isnt going to do anything.
4. The cheap strut plate used by Ford on the front struts sucks! I know there is ample warning about it coming apart, but its just as hard to put back together as well, which is where I kept dropping the bearings. Between trying to align the spring and keeping the center shift still to tighten the nut, the ball bearings kept sneaking out of place. Its a pathetic design, but it works and does its job. I cant wait to replace the whole setup with coilovers with the time comes. Remember, this plate also has to be aligned with the bolts that attach to the suspension arms. I screwed this up after re-installing the front strut, but it was a piece of cake to fix.
5. The rear springs as super easy. Not much to comment on regarding those. For the record, I didnt remove the panhard bar because I could get the springs in with it installed.
Lastly, I torqued everything back together before putting the car on the ground. Is there any benefit in going back, raising the car, loosening some of the bolts, placing it back down, and then tightening? Did I do something wrong because I didnt let the car "settle"? Thanks guys.