If it's not one thing it's another...the 'bird is paying me back for ignoring her.

I just put a new 1" antisway bar on last weekend, which did not require disconnecting anything but the old bar, the shocks (changed to KYB), and one tire.

I noticed some new squeaks and thought they were due to worn body bushings or control arm bushings, but after driving tonight I noticed that the squeak was noticeable at a 3 mph roll on our gravel drive. So I crawled under and took another look, and the left front coil spring appears to have moved out of the top pocket. How could this have occured, as the steering knuckle and control arm bushings were undisturbed? And, more importantly, how do I get it back where it belongs quickly and safely?

spring compressor is your best bet but i'll be darned if I could tell you how it happened... some auto parts stores will lend you the tool with a deposit if you don't have one and return the deposit when you return the tool.

Good luck
Dave

Be careful with those things. Lot's of potential energy behind them.

I may have been traumatized as a kid. I was 14 and taking summer auto shop at the high school. A teacher from another school in our district was also taking the class. He lost a few fingers when a spring came loose.

Did you match up, side by side, the OLD with the NEW? Any difference in angle or length?

Didn't many FGFs come without the anti-sway bar on the front end?

I did lay the bars out, old and new, and other than the difference in diameter (11/16" vs. 1") the bends and length were exactly the same. The end link bushings are a bit shorter on the new bar.

Mine had the "early" style bar with the rubber and steel clamps.

The coil shows metal-to-metal contact where it is hitting at the front of the pocket.

Uh oh!

"The end link bushings are a bit shorter on the new bar."

That little 1/10th inch or so could make a big difference in overall action, regardless of the fact that you got the hardware to line up and install.

Vikki, your knowledge beats me by a long-shot, you know that. But it seems to me this install made something get mis-aligned, so pull it off and put the old bar back on till you figure it out!! No accidents for you, pretty lady!

Vikki,

I just took the passenger side spring/caliper/hub assy apart to correct the location of the top of the new Hotchkis spring, install a couple of new wheel studs and new brake pads. I don't see how the spring could have come out of the top pocket just because you replaced the sway bar - there is too much pressure on the spring and control arms and they have raised "hat" type affairs to locate the springs upper and on the lower control arm. Do you still have stock springs on your car?

BTW - according to the Pozzi site, if you have lowered the front end with new/different springs, then the end link bushings will have to be shorter as the bar end needs to be parallel to the ground.

If you still have stock springs, I don't think you will be able to get enough "squish" on the spring with a compressor to move/rotate it without taking the spindle loose and dropping the lower control arm.

You don't have a rust issue on the lower control arm spring pocket do you?

Not sure if I helped.

Tom

The car still has the stock coil springs, original control arms, and spindles; ball joints and tie rods were replaced last winter. All looks fine except for the left spring, which is properly located at the bottom but not at the top. Looking at it from front or back, the spring shows more compression inboard, the shock is dangerously close to the rear inner coil wall, and the front outer wall rubs the long part of the control arm pocket. The other spring is correctly in its upper pocket and lower groove.

There is plenty of surface rust/scale, but no structural rust issues on upper or lower control arms.

The antisway bar ends are near parallel, and once the front is level they should be parallel to the ground. The shorter end links compensate for the very thick flat forged end, as compared to the original bar's eyelets.

I tried lifting the car's weight off the suspension to partially decompress the spring, but it still would not budge. For lack of the correct tool for the job and limited time to do it, I will drive to the suspension shop in the morning and see if they can fit my car into their schedule.

Thanks for all the help!

Vikki,

You could have a broken spring being held in the upper spring pocket as designed. Let us know how things turn out.

Tom

Vikki,
When you lifted your car to do the work most likely the lower control arm lowered enough to let the spring move. You may have to release the shock to reproduce the situation that occurred.
Jim

The first thing you should do is try to blame it on someone else. Second you need to fix the problem. A good Dukes of Hazard style jump might put it back in place. Try that on the way to the suspension shop. It's not called a fireBIRD for nothing!

I think Jim might be right about the unhooking the shock.

I took it into the shop this morning, and they can't do anything without dropping the control arm, which they could not do this morning. They did say there was NO WAY changing the shocks or swaybar should have released that spring with the ball joints and control arms still in place.

I don't want to ruin my new KYBs, so I'm taking it easy on it for now.

I'm no genius about this stuff but...if you remove the shock and jack the car up to let the wheels hang you can insert a spring compressor (borrowed for a small deposit from Kragen or some such auto store) and compress the spring enough to tap it back in place with a hammer. While compressing the spring you may find it is broken. OR the fact that it bows enough to touch the shocks would imply that it is definitely time to replace them. Just a suggestion.

You'll have to undo the sway bar as well to allow the wheel to droop independently from the right side.

They say NO WAY it happened. OK, so how did it happen then? A group of jealous Camaro freaks played a dirty trick or something?? Or Graemlins? :rolleyes: Or did you get carried away after watching the Dukes? :p
Jim

I'd tell you that it's a reasonably easy fix but it can be dangerous , as I'm sure you are aware.. if you use a good c-clamp or two to hold the spring onto the control arm it can be done safely. Though from what I've heard you probably already know that. Best of luck...

Once you have the shock out of the way, you can pry on the spring with various bars to get it back to where it should be. The only danger is if you lose your grip on the bar, because the spring is still contained if you don't detach anything.
Be careful!

I've tried that before without luck because the spring goes up into the frame quite a bit, and the top has that outcropping to get over. Maybe you'll have better luck, but be careful!!! If you could get a grip on the 2nd coil somehow, you might be able to get the top one to move a little, but it'll be a sticky wicket
You might want to just drop it out to get a good look at everything anyway, and try to determine what happened.

i dont see how it could have happened either, but since it did, it would be nice to know why, so it wont happen again. i am guessing either the spring broke, the outcropping on the frame broke and/or something interfered with the spring keeping it compressed to the lower arm while the suspension was dropping.

i used to drive around with a pair of coils chopped 2 coils down, and they never came out of place... even driving over curbs and stuff...
With as much tension as was on the 6cy coils i put in last year, i dont see how they could just pop out of place. the arm has to drop considerably before tension is released... much more than can happen just with the suspension at full droop. The v8 springs i had in there before that were even longer.

Sounds like a worn out coild spring. If they are the originals they need to eb replaced....period. When I got my car both front springs were worn. They were both more compressed on the inside and less compressed on the outside. They were seated correctly in the pocket, just old and worn out.

You CANNOT safely or easily move the spring back into place and seat it correctly in the spring pocket without dropping the lower control arm. And unless the springs are REALLY worn or broker you couldn't have moved it out of it's pocket just by changing the sway bar or shocks. Is it possible it hasn't been seated correctly since the ball joints were replaced last year?

It'll take ya 30 minutes to fix it yourself using a floor jack and some jack stands. You need to remove and inspect it anyway. Raise the front of the car up and support on jack stands. Remove the shock, remove the wheel and place the floor jack under the ball joint in the lower control arm.....jack it up to compress the spring. Loosen the nut on the lower ball joint so that you have about 1/4 inch of thread between the castle nut and the spindle.....keep the nut in place for safety while breaking the ball joint loose. Lower the floor jack to allow the spring to expand and put pressure on the ball joint stud. Do not let the floor jack loose contact with the lower control arm. Hit the spindle with a BFH to break the ball joint loose from the spindle.....raise the control arm enough to remove the nut from the ball joint stud, then lower the control arm by letting the jack down. The spring will become loose and slack in the control arm.....

Takes a total of 45 minutes or less to replace both sides once you've done it.

Hi vikki,
that is weird. On my bird, I had a hell of a time getting the left front factory spring back in after my front end rebuild. Getting the spring in the top cup was almost imposable. I'll tell ya more details about that chore tomorrow.
Got springs? :-}) I'll bring up the springs I took out after putting Hotchkis in my '69. I also have some spring compressors and a large hammer. LOL So for now

Very cool, Tom. I'll appreciate the hands-on advice!

Just got home from Woodward, and although it was pretty hot it was a great day! There were quite a few FGFs, mostly convertibles including a '69 that drove up from Florida...cameo white with a red interior. I was out there from noon to 9 p.m., drove 100 miles on Woodward, did a parade lap of Pontiac, and had a great time in the Le Mans. Tomorrow is 'bird day, if she's not having any issues.

I quit taking it easy, and ran the car hard on Woodward Saturday night, and on the freeway to and from Pontiac. The spring is not moving from where it is. I will replace both the springs and control arm bushings before I put her away for the winter, and I am debating replacing the control arms as a set instead to gain the dual benefit of better appearance and speed of completion. Any leads for stock type OEM or better control arms?

Not sure on the control arms, but which motor/car are we talking about? If it's the OHC, I would recommend Moog 6308's. That is what is on my car now, which you have seen. For a 350, the 6312 should be good.

Miles, it's a '69 400 Firebird convertible with air, ps, pb, discs...a heavy front end. I was leaning toward springs from Eaton as they are local for me. Whether to replace or restore the control arms is now a decision I need to make.