help.. tryin to do springs.. total night mare

you don't need the compressor on there to get them on, take them off and figure our what is wrong before you break something.

 

without the compressors on the springs when i install them, i cant compress the strut anywhere CLOSE to enough to get the strut bolts to line up.. im clueles... MEH.

 

sweet, the compressor is actually bound up, even with an impact tool it wont come off.

 

where are you?

 

at my apt in NW ABQ..

 

I might be able to assist tomorrow

 

alright. that would be VERY appreciated. i have a friend over trying to help right now. ill update if we figure it out.

 

I had problem with my rears on my 01 Neon. I ended up putting a jack underneath with a block of wood to help mate them together.

Sorry but I have bad news for you. Looking at the second picture it looks like you broke the boot on your outer axle boot..... I see axle grease. Same one that happened to mine, when I was removing my stock strut, hit the damn boot.

 

Think positive. If the flash is off to the right of the camera it could be a shadow? Here's hoping.

 

yeah, i messed up the boot.. o well thats honestly the least of my worries.. that will be easy to fix.

i FINALLY got my front drivers stuff on. took like 2 hours.. we had to compress the spring , WHILE it was bolted to the top. then compress the strut to the point where it was sitting on the axle.. after that, i pryed it up with a pry bar and a chisel. lined it up, put the bolts in, and then un did the spring compressors..

i see NO other way this would have been possible.. it was SUCH a pain in the ass.. the rears were pretty simple for me. i double checked and triple checked that the fronts were on front, and rears were on rears.

got my camber pretty good. ill still get an alignment though..

haven't even started on the passenger side. so ill be ridin crooked for a couple days or so i think.

i will be taking it to a shop to get the passenger side front done. im not even gonna risk dealing with the same crap again.

ive never ran into problems like this before. the control arm would not angle down at all. even took off ball joint and endlink. guess the stock A-arm bushings are that tough..

 

did u make sure u clocked the top hat right cause it sounds like u didnt cause it took me 5 min to install my stage 1 springs back in the car

 

yeah, top hat was clocked the only way it could go. the front top hats arent as specific and different as the rears.

i really have no clue why it was this hard. the suspension on my tiburon was a breeze. i had to compress the springs about 2.5" when installed just to have enough room to PRY them into place and bolt it up..

even if the top hat wasnt clocked right on the 'front springs' i wouldn't have had to compress the springs that much just go get the bottom into a position that i would STILL have to pry it up to get things to line up..

really boggles my mind..

but i will be taking the car to a shop most likely to get the passenger side suspension installed.

on a brighter side, the left side of the car looks pretty cool lol.

 

it really does make a difference if the top hats are clocked right look at the top hat for the pass side and u will see a alittle cut out section that has to be inline with the same side where the bolts are for the steering knuckle and the springs also have to be in the same spot as the stock ones were or u will have the problem your having now

 

still sounds very odd, I've done a half dozen or so springs and nothin like this.

 

I know there different but i have the pro kit and it took me maybe 4 hours to do em just cause i did it at a friends and didnt have all the tools on hand, make sure you have the spring seated in the housing correctly and double check EVERYTHING again even if you already have, you should be able to just push the hub in place and put the knuckle bolts in. somethings not right put the stock spring back on till you figure it out, no use risking your car.

 

no idea.. i had no problem with the rears.. because on the rears you can really tell where the top hat needs to face. on the front, i lined the rubber lining of the top had up with the depression from the stock spring.

i put the eibachs up to my stock springs before i installed them. they were the right diameter (top and bottom) and a little lower than the stock ones.

i think i am going to take the car up to AJ tire tomm. and have them do the pass side and an alignment.

 

could this had to do anything with jacking up one side first instead of doing front then rear?

like could there have been tension on the A-arm from the sway bar, not allowing it to angle down for the bolts to line up.

 

wait u only had one side jacked up HAHA that has alot to do with it cause of the swaybar

 

wow... so basically, im an idiot. i thought of this about 80% through the job.

the reason i jacked up the side was because it worked on my tiburon. but the sway bars were attached to the strut and not the bottom of my control arm.

so, what your telling me is that if i jack up the front end to do the passenger side, all my troubles will go away... HAHAHA..

i feel so dumb right now.


just let me get this straight first. by jacking up the front end, the sway bar will lower, letting the control arms to be in a relaxed position about 2.5" lower making this an easy job...... o man.. :bang:

 

BINGO