shocks and springs

[COBALT]

It's not too hard, and its fundamentally one of the best things to have the experience and know-how to do. Hardest part is getting the lower ball joint loose.

Put the truck up on jack stands. Pull the front wheels. Put some blocks of wood under the rockers so the truck doesn't tilt. Disconnect the tierod assemblies from the spindles. From here you have two methods to choose from:

1. Put a floor jack under the lower ball joint, and remve the pins from the ball joint stud. Loosten the castle nuts on the lower ball joint, but don't take them off. Leave them on for a couple of turns. Either use a pickle fork (you'll destroy the rubber boot on the ball joint) or give the spindle some wacks with a sledge. The lower control arm will pop loose, and sit on the jack. Get behind something and let the jack down. The spring will fall out.

2. Put a floor jack under the control arm center bar, and unbolt the U-bolts holding the bar to the cross member. Get behind something and lower the floor jack. The springs will fall out.

Reverse the selected procedure to put the new springs in. I chose #2 to get them out, and #1 to put them back in, because I had cleaned and painted everything.