I just did the swap. The rear springs are not sitting correctly. What did everyone do to make them sit properly? Did you guys cut the spring or use a prybar?
If using the prybar method how do I do it exactly?
I did mine a couple of years ago, so -- quite truthfully -- my memory is a bit fuzzy.
I know that after I finished, I went to a local garage, and cut a deal to pay one 1 hr of labor (plus a tip for the mechanic) to have the mechanic help me. If I recall correctly, I think I had trouble with the "pan hard bar" ... of that's what it's called. It was a diagonal bar on the rear suspension. The mechanic pulled out some very long pry bars, and we used a combination of finesse and brute strength to get it to seat properly.
There may be a better method, but I haven't learned it.
One thought... and I don't know if it will help, or be a waste of time... is to consider going to a big chain autoparts store that does free loaner tools, and borrowing a spring compressor from them.
BE CAREFUL WITH SPRING COMPRESSORS... you can get hurt if they slip off.
By me, two large chains lend tools. When you want to borrow the tool, they give you a kit, and charge you a price for the tool kik (often $100 to $150)... but then you have a long time (30 or 60 days... I don't recall) to return the used tool for a full refund. It's not the same as abusing a return policy. They really are meant to be loaner tools (in fact, they usually are used when you get them). They charge you and give you a refund as their way of making sure that they get the tool back.
Two words of caution. First, don't lose any pieces or small parts, or you may find that you bought the kit. Second, at one location, the manager asked me to take a call phone photo of the open box with all of the kit parts and keep the photo on my cell phone -- just in case there were any questions upon return, I could show the photo to have a record of what was there when I picked up the kit.
If my memory serves me correctly, when I did the install myself, I had a spring compressor... the kind that looked like a very long screw with two knuckles on it, that grabbed the spring, and then you tightened it to compress the spring. There were two of these items, and I had nothing but trouble with them. The popped off several times, and at other times, once I got them in place, I couldn't release them to get the back off.
My final solution was putting the whole truck on jack stands, releasing the pan-hard bar (if that's the name... the diagonal one), and getting a friend to help.
With him standing on the axel, and some pry bars and elbow grease, I finally got it mostly in place.
Later, with the help of a pro, I was able to rotate the spring to get it seated completely correctly, and fix a few areas that weren't quite right.
Before that, I had tried several hours of work solo, and didn't get very far... for me at least, it turned out to be a two person job.
Here are some images of compressor spring kits that are available to rent near me.
The first image didn't work for me... although NOW that I read it, it seems to be made to compress the spring on struts (not sure that I'd trust it for that... I used the no-compressor trick written up on this forum... it's one where you use a jack to compress and slowly decompress the lower control arm, so you end up slowly and carefully releasing and then recompressing the strut coil without using any type of tool... just the weight of the vehicle, and some jacks... for the struts, I'd prefer to pay a shop to compress them, rather than use some cheap kit that I've never used and risk getting hurt).
The second one I would tend to favor, as I prefer having a flat piece or a disc shaped piece inside the coil spring, and I suspect it would make it easier to remove.
I would suspect that the third kit might be hard to remove one the spring is in place, but your experience may differ.
I can't recall if I had the spring compressed at all when my friend helped me, or whether we just muscled them in. I do recall releasing the pan-hard bar, and having him stand on the rear axel to open up space for me. I also recall having to watch the line on the brake calipers... but I don't remember if there were any connectors I had to loosen or other tricks to give me some more length. I also don't recall whether I had to mess with the brake calipers to give me more room to move the axel, or whether everything was OK.
If anyone has a better, more sane way of replacing the rear coil springs, I'm all ears. I'll confess that I didn't do a lot of reading or research on the procedure before attempting it.... that's now become a standard practice for me, since it can save soooo much time!
Good luck, and let us know what you learn or find out.
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