Spring stuck in pocket

[Twentyover]

OK, my turn in the box.



Car is a 70 Camaro,working on the front suspension.

The subframe has a spring pocket stamped into the rail, and the edge of the pocket is rolled into a flange pointing up. Installing the spring, I got it installed crooked(sp?), and the spring is resting on this upturned flange. I'm unable to pry it loose, or compress and move it.I'm out of ideas.

Any suggestions?

[MrQuick]

Big pry bar and even bigger bolls. You have the weight off the spring right?

[Twentyover]

Lower control arm is off the car for access. Will lean on the pry bar harder. Any other suggestions?

[MrQuick]

Thats a tough one.

[alky]

Try spining it out like a corke screw

[zbugger]

Got pictures?

[Twentyover]

Try spining it out like a corke screw

Tried that first.The spring is partially compressed where the coil is running into the lip, force required to turn exceeds my 220 lb weakling strength.

Allen. Have pic, don't know how to resize. The shiny area under the coil is the radius of the lip where I've been trying to pry it out. Left of that you can see the coil recessing into the subframe

OK figured out how to shrink it down some

[esenior]

Wow, that's really wedged in there! It's a bit dangerous, but have you tried compressing the entire spring with a floor jack? of course this will only work if you have the engine in the car for the weight. If you try this, I would HIGHLY recommend you chain the spring to the chassis so that if it pops out, it won't go far. Another thought would be to use some leverage...attach a long bar (a metal digging bar should work) to the bottom of the spring, then use the outside of the frame as a leverage point. If you can get a 5-6 foot bar, that will give you a lot more leverage then trying to pry it out from the bottom.

Good luck (and be careful)!

[Twentyover]

Conclusion-

Hooked a ratchet tie-down to the spring and diagonally to the opposite side subframe rail. Preloaded tie-down, jacked spring up to relieve some of the spring preload, used crowbar to tighten ratchet tie down tighter,spring pulled out over the lip. Spring is now on garage floor

It's 85 degrees and 90% RH, I'm sweating like a hog...

[MrQuick]

At least spring wasn't in the air. Good show!!!