Originally posted by PA 3L SVT:
If I buy myself a spring compressor, will I avoid all the disassembly and reassembly you needed to do? No - you'll still need to use the hydraulic jack method. I actually borrowed a spring compressor from Autozone (they loan them for free, just leave a deposit). But I quickly realized compressing the spring didn't help me. The problem is the spring will compress inside its housing on the strut assembly, but you need the strut to compress too. And it won't if you just compress the spring. You don't need to do all the disassembly I did (I only did all that on one side anyway, until I figured out I could do it without taking the strut off). But you will need a hydraulic floor jack, and a come-along or winch to hold the assembly straight while the control arm is disconnected. If you are carful to not pull the drive shaft outwards too much, you can avoid having to reassemble the tripod bearings inside the inner CV joint.
'96 Contour SE, black / opal grey, MTX, every option, KKM intake, resonator removed, Flowmaster Series 40 DeltaFlow, GoodYear Eagle HP's, 115k miles, new paint 7/01. Driven cross-country 4 times.
'70 Corvette Stingray Coupe, Cortez Silver, 454 bored to 462, Muncie M21, too many mods to list, lots of fun. 335 rwhp / 365 rwtq
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