Working on the 55 Frame

[567chevys]

I know there are some on here that are going to say what the hell are doing installing that stuff on your car , Its not Corvette !!

Well I bought this stuff long ago and now I just want to get it done to drive .

The first Picture is my buddy that spray the frame.
The other pictures are how I installed the A frames after I compressed the coil springs .

When a Bare frame is on a 2 Post lift with no Body , engine not in it you cant just the lower A frame up into place with a jack .
So I used 4 PCS 3/8" All Thread x 12 " and installed them and slowly adjusted them tight till they where tight so you could install the correct short bolts

Sid

[55 Rescue Dog]

Well that's one way to do it, but you can buy a coil spring compressor for like $15, which would have worked much better, and safer. Still have one in my toolbox, but no, I had to buy a $300 traverse leaf spring compressor to use one time, so far, on a bare chassis. It's a factory tool that sold new for $1400. I'll just sell it when I'm done with it.

[567chevys]

I did have a spring compressor , the problem is they don't compress the spring enough

Sid

[Rick_L]

A homemade compressor that looks like the one in the shop manual works just great. A piece of 1/2" all thread, an eye bolt, a coupler nut, and old lower shock pin, and a couple of nuts and you're good to go. Just don't ever let the all thread get loaded in bending. Best way is to use something like Farmboy did so that the compressor pulls in the whole lower control arm, not just the ball joint end. Actually it's a great idea to do that with the hook type compresssors too. No need for the pieces on the control shafts to pull, just to stabilize, guide, and provide extra safety.

The longer the spring the more you need to do these things. Short springs don't require much compression and are relatively speaking a piece of cake.

[Rustaddict]

A homemade compressor that looks like the one in the shop manual works just great. A piece of 1/2" all thread, an eye bolt, a coupler nut, and old lower shock pin, and a couple of nuts and you're good to go. Just don't ever let the all thread get loaded in bending. Best way is to use something like Farmboy did so that the compressor pulls in the whole lower control arm, not just the ball joint end. Actually it's a great idea to do that with the hook type compresssors too. No need for the pieces on the control shafts to pull, just to stabilize, guide, and provide extra safety.

The longer the spring the more you need to do these things. Short springs don't require much compression and are relatively speaking a piece of cake.

I did that and it worked well. Be sure to get grade 8 nuts and washers though. I stripped a couple of grade 5 nuts when I put my own springs in.

[LEE T]

I did have a spring compressor , the problem is they don't compress the spring enough

Sid
This is the one that works
http://images.palcdn.com/hlr-system/WebPhotos/84/843/8434/8434334.jpg