Las Vegas I need help with springs

SVT4ME

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Well, the story is that I was thinking of installing H & R race springs on my 03 Cobra. My problem is I’ve never change springs on any car before and was hoping someone could give me a hand. I could pay to have someone else do it but I love working on my car and learning as I go. Just one more task I would like to learn how to do. I’ve read all the threads and it sounds straight forward. Pizza and beer/soda on me. I’ve yet to purchase the springs and figure it be better to wait till I find someone who can help. Please PM me if you feel like giving a fellow stang owner some help. Thanks
 

torquemonster

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pizza and beer huh? how bout a plane ticket out of seattle too? lol...i HATE rain...and could use some vegas heat...get me outta here:bored:
 

torquemonster

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pizza and beer huh? how bout a plane ticket out of seattle too? lol...i HATE rain...and could use some vegas heat...get me outta here:bored:
 

mysticsvt

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Fronts are easy, wheels off, Disconnect the brake line bolt(10 mm I think) to give more room to move. The bolt on either side, (sway bar I believe that goes from one side to the other) needs to be removed. Then drop the 3 bolts up top where the caster camber plates go. With ease lower it down making sure it doesnt scratch your paint on the fender as you pull it out. If your car is jacked up enough you will not have to use springs compressors. Springs come out with a tug and a nice flat tip screw driver or pribar. Springs go back in easier. Rear you have to use a jack to put some pressure on the pumkin, then take out the IRS bolt and you can lower both sides at once. Was a step or two more but cant recall. Someone will chime in for whatever I missed. Easy to do with a little common sense-Shane

ps..Most common mistake, striping out the IRS bolt..make sure there is little tension on it when taking it out or putting it in. Adjust the jack till the IRS is in the best spot.
 

saleen09

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Here are some instructions I found off this site.

Here is a writeup I did a while back...

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but this is how I did it. I'm sure there are other ways that will work fine, but this is what worked for me. As with all things, be careful as springs can hurt you if you do not handle them properly. This is for informational purposes only, use at your own risk. ;) I used air tools for quite a few things so that will make it much easier, but it can definitely be done without them. It will just require some long breaker bars on a few things.

FRONT SPRINGS -

First things first, go down to Autozone and rent a tie rod separater. Don't get the pickle fork looking job, get the one that looks kinda like a pulley puller.

Jack up the car, pick a side to start with.

Take the wheel off

Take the brake caliper off by removing the little pin that is at the rear of the caliper by the caliper bracket. This pin is held on with a small c-clip on the back side of the caliper. Be careful when removing this clip as it can fly off very easy, would be easy to lose.
Remove the caliper from the caliper braket and tie/ziptie it up and out of the way.

Next undo the front sway bar end link. The nut is on the bottom of the control arm, I believe it is a 15mm.

Looking at the left side of the shock tower you will notice where the ABS sensor harness is attached to a bracket by rubber gromets. Take the sensor harness out of the brakets. Then undo the nut that holds the ABS harness onto the strut bolts. (Believe it is a 15/16)

Next take the cotter pin out of the tie rod, undo the tie rod nut (think it is an 18mm). Then take the tie rod puller and pop the tie rod lose from the spindle. It will take a couple of turns and then it will pop very loud as it comes out of the spindle.

Place a jack under the contol arm around where the ball joint is located, jack it up to preload things a little bit. Undo both strut to spindle mounting nuts (15/16?), remove the bolts from the back side (13/16?).

At this point everything is lose, so drop the jack down. This will relieve most of the tension on the spring, but it might require some slight pushing down of the control arm/prying on the spring to get it out of the spring seats.

This is the point where each application might change. With my race springs with no front isolators the spring pretty much went back in without any problems. You might have to use a spring compressor to get your spring into the location with isolators on it.

Put the spring back in (make sure that the spring is in the seat in the correct location), place the jack back under the ball joint location. Jack it back up to the point where the control arm is almost level (or until right before it starts to lift the car off your jack stands). Line up the strut mounting holes with the holes on the spindle. Put your bolts back in and nut them. Tighten them down to torque spec.

Next slide the tie rod back up into the spindle hole and thread the castle nut back on. Tighten this back down to specification and then put the cotter in back in to lock it down.

Put the ABS bracket back onto the strut bolts and tighten back down the retaining nut. Then put the ABS harness back into the brackets the same way you removed them.

Slide the brake caliper back on and place the pin back in. Remember to put the small washer and C-clip back on the back side of the caliper.

Wait to reattach the swaybar endlink until you have finished the springs on the opposite side. Once you have completed the other side, jack up the control arm to get the sway bar end link back into place. Put the bushing and then washer/nut back onto the bottom of the end link and tighten it back up.

After that, all you need to do is put the wheels back on and you're done. I would recommend putting some pieces of wood under the tire when you drop the car down to insure that you can get your jack back out from under the car.

REAR SPRINGS

These are pretty straightforward. First jack up the rear of the car, place jack stands in an area around where the front IRS cradle bolt attaches to the body. Take the wheels off on both sides, you will need to work on both sides to do the springs with this method.

Remove the catback system off of the car, it is 4 bolts up by the H/X pipe, then 3 hangers on either side of the exhaust. They can be a PITA to get out depending on how your catback fits. This is by far the biggest PITA of the whole rear end. As a hint I will sometimes use a wrench to pry the rubber hanger off of the exhaust.

Once the catback is off, get a 10mm socket and extension and remove the bolt the holds the brake line up to the body on both sides of the car. This will give you space to drop the rear cradle down without running into any brake line crimping problems.

Next take your jack on one side of the car and jack up the control arm to relieve pressure off of the shock. Take the shock bolt out (18mm). Repeat for the opposite side of the car.

Make note of where the pig tails on the rear springs are facing, this will be important later.

Now that both shock bolts are out and the shocks are not longer attached to the control arms, place the jack under the rear diff and tighten it up. Remove the rear cradle bolts (18mm) that attach it to the body (old quad shock bolt location). Take out both sides bolts.

Drop down the jack and your springs will become lose. Take them out on both sides, get your new springs ready to drop in. Here again my race springs fit right in with just the lower isolator only. You might require a spring compressor to get them in.

Place the spring back into the seats with the pigtail facing the correct way. Get both springs back in and slowly jack the rear end back up into place. Be sure to stop often to ensure that the springs are going back in their seats correctly. Once you get them so they are tight, keep jacking up to line back up the rear cradle bolts.

Place the bolts back into the rear locations and torque them down to specification.

Release pressure on the jack and move it out of the carrier area to one contol arm, jack the control arm up to get the shock bolt back in. Torque to spec. Repeat for the other side.

Bolt the brake line brackets back up to the body. Put the catback back on the car and bolt it in, make sure to get all three hangers per side back connected.

The rear of the car is done (obviously put the wheels back on). Again it might require you to have some pieces of wood under the rear tires to get the jack out from under the car.




I don't think I'm leaving off, but there might be something little that I am overlooking right now. This gives you an idea of how I did it. Like I said before, everyone has their ways. I changed all 4 springs by myself last night in about 4 hours. With that being said, don't get frustrated as it might take you longer if you are using hand tools and don't have much experience working on cars. Hope this helps.
 

mysticsvt

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Nice write up man, but you dont need to remove the brake calipers or rotors. Atleast, I have never had too-shane
 

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