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65 riviera front spring removal and ball joints....


Guest RyanC

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Hey guys, I'm putting in some 3" dropped springs in my car and just got started this afternoon. I popped the lower ball joints with no issue at all, but the lower control arms were not clearing the backing plates very easily. It was a real bear to get that figured... But I finally got the springs out.

But this process really made me wonder about how hard this procedure is gonna be in reverse. Do you all normally attack this job through the lower ball joints or is it more typical to break the top to remove the spring.

Finally, ball joints... Looks to me like these are pressed in. Is that correct? Has anyone had any success with one of those hand held ball joint presses that you can use without removing the control arm? Any preference on where to get new lowers?

Thanks so much in advance!<style id="_clearly_component__css" type="text/css">#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } </style>

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if you havent yet youll need a spring compressor(i rented one from autozone)-i put gs spings on my 63 and just followed the chassie manual-got a complete front end kit from cars-they sell all the parts individually also-i had to take my control arms off to replace bushings so i took the ball joints to a front end shop for removal and reassembly.hope this helps.t.nugent roa 12969......

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I broke the lower ball joint free to remove and replace the spring. It's been along time since I did it but I think I took the entire drum assembly away from the spindle so the a-arm could swing freely. You don't need a spring compressor to put it back together. The drop spring are easier to get in. Seat the spring in the upper pocket and use a floor jack to swing the lower back into place. I didn't replace my ball joints. The car had all that replaced just before I bought it. And I took car not to F them up. But they list them at Rock auto. RockAuto Parts Catalog

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That's what I was afraid of... I really don't wanna take the brakes off the spindles if I don't have to... But it looks like I'm gonna need to in order to get it all back together.

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