hay fitzy, shops like supercheap sell good safe spring compressors, and done right it as safe as!

https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/toolpro-toolpro-coil-spring-compressor-pair/12548.html

 i have never had a need for a ball joint separator, just use two big hammers on each side and wack them.

 and doing it your self not only saves money for more beers but you learn stuff at the same time 

when it comes to doing your a arm bushes you will need to find a mate with a press.

i bought my self one many a arm jobs ago and never regretted buying it.

 they are not expensive but are bulky and you will need to find a home for it when not in use

https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/sca-sca-shop-press-h-frame-6000kg/214467.html

Edited August 2, 20205 yr by 64 kiwi boni

They make spring compressor tools of course. Just one more expensive tool you’ll probably never use again after this job. Any chances you can rent the tool form a local parts store?

You can put a floor jack under the lower control arm, release the castle nut and cotter pin from the spindle and SLOWLY lower the floor jack to gradually release the spring tension. You may need to whack the ball joint with a hammer a few times to release it from the spindle before you try to lower the jack.

 

 

9 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Okay, now that we've bashed the Chinese let's get back to business...

King Springs want $900. EatonDetroit will be about the same, so I'm deciding what to do.

I'll need a spring compressor to get those front springs out. I've never used one but from what I've read you are dicing with death! Any tips on how I might live longer whilst compressing those giant springs, apart from paying someone $100 an hour to do it for me? I've also ordered a front end rebuild kit. I'm going to need a ball joint separator, a pitman arm puller, some biceps...mind you, one hour's professional labour rate will pay for all that. Believe it or not, I bought that car to give me something to do in my spare time. My 'spare time.' Let's all ponder that for a moment. What was I thinking???

Fitzy, sorry we hijaked your thread! 
As far as taking out the springs, yah most people are a little unnerved about it when they haven’t done it before! There are many ways to remove them, but for the type of springs you have I would recommend the standard standby. See below this type is fairly inexpensive, not much to store after the fact and when used right very safe! 

you simply take out the shock, install the compressor arms through the center of the spring then the treaded shaft installs to them! Using a socket and ratchet tighten, which compresses the spring. Once you’ve done that, you remove the castle nut, but it’s a good idea to break loose the nut first before you take the tension off the Aarm from the spring, but don’t remove the nut.

once the spring is compressed you need a, preferable, floor jack  under the Aarm. Take the castle nut off, turn it upside down and thread it back onto the ball joint shaft, leaving about an 1/8 of an inch of the nut sticking above the ball joint shaft. At this point, using two hammers, place one hammer on top of the castle nut and hit it with the other, you could also use a chunk of steel in place of the first hammer, but the second hammer, the one you swing should be a good beefy one, two pound short handle sledge would be good! This will release the ball joint shaft from the steering knuckle. Now lower the floor jack slowly. You will need to most likely push the Aarm down further than it will go on it’s own, so make sure you have the car raised up high enough. Now remove the spring! Place the spring, if you can in a vise, side ways to remove the compressor.

To remove the ball joints is fairly easy! All you need is pipe! Get yourself a piece of pipe that fits the outside diameter of the ball joint. This goes on the bottom side of the Aarm, between the Aarm and the ground. It should be as close of a fit as you can get, but the ball joint itself should be able to fall right through it. The top side needs a piece of pipe the fits the top of the ball joint! Again this piece of pipe should fit a body edge of the ball joint, but fall through the hole in the Aarm when the ball joint is out. Placing a flat piece of steel, 1/2 thick or better, on top of the  top pipe and using your big hammer, strike the flat plate with good force! This will drive the ball joint out, but it will take multiple hits to do so! 
Making the bottom side pipe as solid to the ground and Aarm as possible will make all the difference in transferring the energy to drive the ball joint out easily! 
To install the new ball joints put them in the freezer overnight! While keeping the ball joint cold use a burnz-o-matic and heat the hole area where the ball joint goes, about 500 degrees f. Doing this will require almost no press fit, just some light tapping at best, but you must be quick.

 

Edited August 2, 20205 yr by Last Indian

All great advice, as always!  So all I'll add is the spring compressors really aren't that hard Fitzy, I heard how dangerous they were and all the stuff about the tool braking and spring flying off and killing you also bro. JUSTA  take your time and go slow bro. You can see how I did mine on my 63. I rented the tool from the local parts house and in that pic my son is ratcheting to compress. Now I wound NOT let him remove the springs but I did let him compress. Good luck bro

2 hours ago, Wrongway said:

All great advice, as always!  So all I'll add is the spring compressors really aren't that hard Fitzy, I heard how dangerous they were and all the stuff about the tool braking and spring flying off and killing you also bro. JUSTA  take your time and go slow bro. You can see how I did mine on my 63. I rented the tool from the local parts house and in that pic my son is ratcheting to compress. Now I wound NOT let him remove the springs but I did let him compress. Good luck bro

Great to see your son getting into it Wrongway👍

Thanks Everyone,  what a great unanticipated response. I now feel empowered to decapitate myself. My uselessness & ineptitude know no boundaries! Nah, I'll be right. I've been working on cars my entire life-I'm just getting older & lazier.

I'll look forward to posting gruesome photos of what went wrong!

4 hours ago, Wrongway said:

All great advice, as always!  So all I'll add is the spring compressors really aren't that hard Fitzy, I heard how dangerous they were and all the stuff about the tool braking and spring flying off and killing you also bro. JUSTA  take your time and go slow bro. You can see how I did mine on my 63. I rented the tool from the local parts house and in that pic my son is ratcheting to compress. Now I wound NOT let him remove the springs but I did let him compress. Good luck bro

Sweet pic.  Waaay to get the boy involved in our obsession.  Priceless.

Thanks guys, I love that he's so into cars and enjoys working on them. Its memories that he'll be able to share with his kids and your right bro, its priceless! 

On 8/2/2020 at 3:39 PM, Fitzy said:

I'll look forward to posting gruesome photos of what went wrong!

Should I start mixing up the soda and popcorn? Or you going to be awhile in the ICU and we have to wait for the bandages to come off? We love a good horror flick!!! 

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by Frosty

When the compressed spring lets go because my El Cheapo Chinese compressor fell apart and takes my brain out, we'll shovel the remains back into my skull and I'll buy a Corolla and lower that next.

Get the beers ready-Car Injuries 101 comin' up!

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

When the compressed spring lets go because my El Cheapo Chinese compressor fell apart and takes my brain out, we'll shovel the remains back into my skull and I'll buy a Corolla and lower that next.

Get the beers ready-Car Injuries 101 comin' up!

Hey I thought we were done the China bashing! I’ll give you a month to stop 😁!

Don't forget to get pics before you stuff your back in! We want grey matter Pics Fitzy! 

Let's get real - we shall continue to bash the Chinese, especially since the spring compressor I'm considering will be made there. I'm still working (doing my third consecutive overtime stint) and shall crawl under the car upon my return and will then 'assess' the mechanical situation under there. If I reckon I can get a compressor up there without exposing my own flesh & bone, I shall toddle off to the Ying Tong Super Happy Auto Parts Emporium and buy the sturdiest looking compressor I can. Let's also remember that the car will be suspended by my Chinese made jack stands and I will be raising & lowering said vehicle with my Chinese made trolley jack. Maybe my brain is made in China?

14 hours ago, Last Indian said:

Hey I thought we were done the China bashing! I’ll give you a month to stop 😁!

Justa takin a break.  Don't get me started.

13 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Let's get real - we shall continue to bash the Chinese, especially since the spring compressor I'm considering will be made there. I'm still working (doing my third consecutive overtime stint) and shall crawl under the car upon my return and will then 'assess' the mechanical situation under there. If I reckon I can get a compressor up there without exposing my own flesh & bone, I shall toddle off to the Ying Tong Super Happy Auto Parts Emporium and buy the sturdiest looking compressor I can. Let's also remember that the car will be suspended by my Chinese made jack stands and I will be raising & lowering said vehicle with my Chinese made trolley jack. Maybe my brain is made in China?

No, if your brain was you wouldn’t even be questioning any of this, you know like buy a live bat for lunch! 😳!

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by Last Indian

17 hours ago, Fitzy said:

 If I reckon I can get a compressor up there without exposing my own flesh & bone, I shall toddle off to the Ying Tong Super Happy Auto Parts Emporium and buy the sturdiest looking compressor I can. 

I guess Fitzy isn't worrying about political correctness, is he? Gawd I love it!

Somehow this is going to end up like a bad episode of Roadkill or Mighty Car Mods.

Okay, here's news (well, it was to me) regarding lowered springs for the GP. Did I mention I want to lower it? 2" at the front and 1.5" at the back. After being sent 2 batches of incorrect springs, a professional informs me that the 65-66 GPs had unique springs. No wonder these parts houses can't get it right. Great prices and speedy service are okay if you have a Chevy or a Ford, but Pontiacs seem to require a little more careful research, especially B bodies. Everyone seems to think that all Pontiacs are A bodies because the only Pontiac they know is a GTO or a Firebird. So, I now have a local outfit who will make me springs as a custom order and 2 US spring manufacturers who I am waiting on quotes from. Eaton Detroit want US$400 to ship them to me, quite apart from the considerable cost of the springs themselves. I'm sure their springs are very good, but money matters, so I shop around.

I offer this information to fellow GP restorers (surely Catalinas & Bonnies will use the same springs) in case they are tempted by large parts houses offering apparently correct 'direct fit' springs for their project.

And my God, DO NOT get me started on pitman arms. Treasure the one you have on your car-don't lose that sucker!

To anyone who's interested, I had to order front springs from one place and rears from another-they have assured me they will be correct.

Now, I asked someone about the potential difference between p/s & man steer idler arms and there is no difference. This is GREAT news for me. I want to give a shout out to this fella: https://nospartsfromthepast.com/

An excellent parts resource from a friendly, eager to help chap. I highly recommend this bloke for those vexing questions that pop up as you're laying under your car wondering where the f@#! am I gonna find one of those?!

3 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

To anyone who's interested, I had to order front springs from one place and rears from another-they have assured me they will be correct.

Now, I asked someone about the potential difference between p/s & man steer idler arms and there is no difference. This is GREAT news for me. I want to give a shout out to this fella: https://nospartsfromthepast.com/

An excellent parts resource from a friendly, eager to help chap. I highly recommend this bloke for those vexing questions that pop up as you're laying under your car wondering where the f@#! am I gonna find one of those?!

Looks like a great link...thankz for sharing

Thanks for sharing. I've gotta 63 GP so ill check him out.

You know, I've spent a LOT of time researching parts for that GP. I'm gonna end up old & crusty and a source of all things Pontiac. It wasn't supposed to end like this: all I wanted was something to tinker with in my 'spare time,' you know, the time I USED TO HAVE that was spare!

I'm gonna be as painful as a reformed smoker-Pontiac this and Pontiac that, blah blah blah...

Mind you, it has been immensely interesting and being a long time car tragic, it's not going away.

You know, I've spent a LOT of time researching parts for that GP. I'm gonna end up old & crusty and a source of all things Pontiac. It wasn't supposed to end like this: all I wanted was something to tinker with in my 'spare time,' you know, the time I USED TO HAVE that was spare!

I'm gonna be as painful as a reformed smoker-Pontiac this and Pontiac that, blah blah blah...

Mind you, it has been immensely interesting and being a long time car tragic, it's not going away.

You’re welcome.,welcome to the club. Cars are sneaky that way, next thing you know, they have you! 

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

You know, I've spent a LOT of time researching parts for that GP. I'm gonna end up old & crusty and a source of all things Pontiac. It wasn't supposed to end like this: all I wanted was something to tinker with in my 'spare time,' you know, the time I USED TO HAVE that was spare!

I'm gonna be as painful as a reformed smoker-Pontiac this and Pontiac that, blah blah blah...

Mind you, it has been immensely interesting and being a long time car tragic, it's not going away.

Good on you Fitzy, nothing like a challenge aye👍

thanks for the link too