re-installing front COIL SPRING help
 

Ok i have an 01 blazer xtreme. I have searched and searched and i can not find anywhere how to use the coil compressor so that can put my stupid spring back in. when i try to put the spring back in (compressed) the long bolt that goes through the middle of the spring hits the top where the shock mounts. :icon_rant:i have recompressed and recompressed the spring over and over trying to get it to line up with the shock mount hole so i could get the spring all the way up. i am having lots of trouble out of these springs could someone help me out.

anyone? im really struggling. has anybody ever had this problem?

You might need to wait more than an hour and a half for someone to reply but, do you have the sway bar link disconected?

It's been awhile since I have worked on anything with coil springs. And I didn't have a coil compressor (used chain and a Master Lock :), I would disconnect the lower control arm and remove/replace the coil spring. If the spring needed further to be compressed so i could reconnect the lower control arm, I would use a jack placed under the control arm to compress the spring until I could get everything bolted back up.

sorry about that. But yes i have the sway bar link disconnected lol. If i didn't i would not even be able to attempt to put the spring in. I think i may be compressing the spring to much. My problem is when i compress the spring and try to put it in, the bolt that goes through the middle is sticking way too far above the spring and is hitting where the shock mounts to the frame keeping the spring from going up far enough. when i have mine compressed mine looks like the picture that i edited that i have attached. should i have to compress my spring that much??

thi would do at but i had so much trouble getting my control arm back in i feel it would almost be impossible to do it that way. i had to spread the brackets out to get my control arm in.

wouldn't installation be reverse of removal? how did you get it out?

Last time I did one, I did it like Rockp2 described. Put a jack stand under the lower control arm and lower the vehicle. Using a compressor like the one pictured, you start the upper end first, then stick the ram bolt through the shock hole in the lower control arm and loosen it to decompress the spring.

I'm not sure what you mean by "trouble getting the control arm back in", but just to clarify my previous statement, I should have said "pivot" not "remove". Pivot the control arm by disconnecting it from the spindle so you can pivot the control arm down. Then after the spring is in place, use a floor jack to push the control arm back on to the spindle and bolt everything up. Then remove the compressor

Actually I didn't even know you could remove/replace the coil springs without disconnecting the control arm from the spindle.

it still had a little pressure on it when i pulled it out. its harder to get back in.