Rear Coil Spring problem

[cruisinthe34]

In the process of doing the rear 6" drop. Got the shocks off fine. I dont think the panhard bar will be a big issue. The problem is the coil springs. The spring retainers lower have rusted away. I have saturated the upper bolts with PB Blaster and still no joy. I could cut the springs out with a hot wrench, but still leaves the bolts etc. Any alternative thoughts on attacking these 45 year old rusted in bolts ??

[ED67C20]

Maybe heat up the rusted bolts with your hot wrench. PB works good but heat seems to work every time. Be careful PB is flammable.

[71swb4x4]

Before I read Ed's reply I thought the same thing, heat the bolts up with the torch. If they still don't come off cut them off, you can cut the spring side off once the spring is gone.

[scooterpimp]

I recently went through this , was able to pull springs off rusted plates & used cutoff wheel to cut off bolt heads. Wear eye ect. Protection , sparks etc. will be a flyin.

[GASoline71]

Had to cut mine as well... not uncommon to have to cut them.

Gary

[cruisinthe34]

The lower passenger side spring capture is completely eaten away.



Both the uppers look about the same

[cruisinthe34]

May just cut the spring to get most of the out. then start with a cutoff wheel. Just ordered new spring captures today.

[cruisinthe34]

Ended up cutting the coil springs (both sides), then cutting the U-Bolts front and back both sides, fighting to get the ends of the U-Bolts out of the trailing arms and reaming the trailing arms for the new U-bolts. Re-assembled everything only to learn that back in March my buddy installed the Rear Shocks on the front. Fixed that problem, and now all thats left is I need to center up the rearend.

[cruisinthe34]

As a side note......Impact wrenches are a WONDERFUL thing.

[jr1966]

Same problem here.
Do the upper spring retaining bolts have a welded nut inside of the frame ?
If so how do I get the rest of the bolt out after cutting the head off ?
Thanks

[cruisinthe34]

jr 1966

I didn't have to cut the bolt head. I ended up actually cutting the coil springs up near the top so I could get a socket\breaker bar on the lower nut and a box end wrench up on top of the frame. Mine were NOT welded to the frame rails.


Now that I think about it, after cutting the coils, I had a box end wrench on top and my impact wrench on the bottom. No problem removing then. on Install, it was a boxend wrench and a rachet.

[jr1966]

Thanks a bunch . I will get out the cutter and get coil cut first.
JR

[rocknss]

On my Burb it had bolts and nuts that held the coils on, which I had to cut to remove them. PB Baster and Heat did not work.