Just wondering how you people go about changing the front springs, as i feel my way is crap. what i do is compress the springs intensely then remove the shocky, undo the upper ball joint i think it is> (the one with 3 bolts) then the arm lowers down a bit and somehow i get it out that way. it is very time consuming and very very annoying. i was wondering if there are any other techniques out there?
cheers John.

take the bracket that holds the bump stop off.
it makes life heaps easier, you wont have to undo the balljoint.

Undo the shock tower - undo the bottom nts that hold the shockers in and pull out the shocker with the tower

Get a crow bar and jimmy them out

This is correct, make sure you jack the front end right up, dont worry about taking off the bump stops or any ball joints, use a long crow bar and lever them away from the lower spring saddle (you will notice where the bottom end of the spring sits in the saddle it has a blanked off end to stop the spring from turning) lever the spring out slowly, the spring will make some noise when it lets go, but dont listen to anyone that recons they fly around the workshop, yard etc, its all a myth believe me I have done hundreds of sets af them and have never seen one in flight!!!

If you want some tips on installing them, the easiest way I can recomend is the following:

If you know someone that has a small press, you can compress them using the press and either wire them up on either side (primitive but it works if you dont have anything else)

We used to have flat bar styrups (25 x 6mm about 250mm long with 2 ends bent at a tad over 90 degrees to hold them in place) we would fit to the springs and we would remove once the springs were fitted to the vehicle and the weight taken up!

If you want any more info PM or email me

thanks for all the input people. i have done them many times aswell, and i usually take the ball joint off and compress them (which is bloody hard, no room, and the front end springs are tough as) and then work them out, same for putting them in.

ive heard of a way that you take the shocky out, then get a tool that "replaces" the shock and screws up compressing the spring, then you undo some bolts inside the engine bay and it comes apart that way? anyone heard of this technique?
cheers John.

when we did my front springs that way, as we uncompressed the springs with the 'special tool' i was in the wheel arch, pulling the spring towards me - like bending it. took a lil time, got got the job done in the end

You forgot to mention to RUN LIKE HELL AS IT COMES OUT lol

that special tool you're talking about - I've seen it in a ford manual - it has like a ford p[art no and everything and seems like the safest way to go....

to the other fellahs who haven't seen a spring fly, you have been lucky up until now. We did one years ago in a back yard and it pierced a hole in the neighbors fence - after flying across the yard narrowly missing two peoples heads. I've seen quite a few done since, using various methods listed here - I always remember that 1st one and stay outta the way, giving advice from a distance....

[quote="tearlejc"]that special tool you're talking about - I've seen it in a ford manual - it has like a ford p[art no and everything and seems like the safest way to go....

It is the safert and the quickest way to go particularly if you modify the tool to accept a "rattle gun" amd modify the end to accept a slide in plate instead of bolting the tool to the spring saddle