I am doing a suspension rebuild in the front. I am having a great deal of trouble getting the coil springs back in. How much do they have to be compress to back in? Is there any tips on compressing the springs putting them back on the car?

 

You need screw type spring compressors. Put in on the furthest coils that wont interfere once the tension is released, and you have to compress them quite a bit.
-P.

 

+1. you need spring compressors.

 

Get ones like these. They have a retaining pin to keep them on the spring. THe last thing you'd want is one to let loose. It can and will seriously hurt or even kill you. Springs are one of the things where inexperience can really hurt you.
-P.

[IMG]local://upfiles/18532/6402C62EBE674104A99EDE5DEC05ED6C.jpg[/IMG]

 

Ok, when I put the coil spring compressor on do I want to get end to end compression on the coil or compress the middle of the coil?

 

You want it as close to the ends as possible. Youll notice you only have enough room to get so much. Usually, the 2nd or 3rd coil.Also, when tightening the compressors, dont tighten one side then the other. You want to progressively tighten both to get even spring compression.
-P.

 

+1

 

When I replaced my spring perches they came out no problem because they were so worn. When I put them back I had a real hard time getting it to fit. I borrowed the compressor that goes in the middle of the spring form the local Autozone. I had to turn it upside down to get enough compression to get the spring back in. You will need to grab the spring with the compressor as far to the ends as possible. I tried the outside type but couldn't get them to fit right as they were hitting the sides.

 

I disagree with using the external spring compressor. It takes two of them and you have to crank them down together.

I prefer to use the internal style compressors.

 

+1 on the internal compressors. They have a slgihtly less chance of coming loose nd hurting anything or anyone.