What gives ?!? This front suspension isn’t !! (Page 1/1)
MERATIME MAY 10, 06:07 AM
1987 SE manual

Hello all .

Trying to figure out why the front oem springs are not coming out? Note: All the suspension components on this car is OEM / original and overtime. Dust and rust did accumulate in the wheelwell area and is now cleaned. My project is to add performance springs. I did as instructed removing the required nuts to the sway bar. shock absorber & ball joints. To me. It seems that the ball joint assembly is sticking and is not allowing the lower control arm to freely fall. I hit against the knuckle & spindle without any luck. Have any of you had a similar outcome? Are there specific applications involved with the Fiero in order to get these springs out? Any suggestions would be great

Thank you

[This message has been edited by MERATIME (edited 05-10-2025).]

I Lean MAY 10, 08:16 AM

quote
Originally posted by MERATIME:

1987 SE manual

Hello all .

Trying to figure out why the front oem springs are not coming out? Note: All the suspension components on this car is OEM / original and overtime. Dust and rust did accumulate in the wheelwell area and is now cleaned. My project is to add performance springs. I did as instructed removing the required nuts to the sway bar. shock absorber & ball joints. To me. It seems that the ball joint assembly is sticking and is not allowing the lower control arm to freely fall. I hit against the knuckle & spindle without any luck. Have any of you had a similar outcome? Are there specific applications involved with the Fiero in order to get these springs out? Any suggestions would be great

Thank you




You'll probably need to disconnect more things to let the lower control arm drop farther. I popped out one of the ball joints, and still the spring was under tension and needed to be levered out with a prybar.

If you have a spring compressor that will fit, that will help a lot. (mine did not fit, there isn't much space to work with)
1985 Fiero GT MAY 10, 08:33 AM
Yeah the front and rear springs are under compression even at full suspension droop (the rear is held captive by the shock, the front by the suspension geometry).
Vintage-Nut MAY 10, 10:18 AM
⚠ INJURY / DAMAGE CAUTION:

In my How-To Replace '88 Ball Joints 'On the Car' post, it shows the process to remove the knuckle assembly from the upper and lower control arms.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum9/HTML/000054.html







After the knuckle assembly has been removed, carefully and slowly; lower the bottom control arm to remove the springs...

[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 05-10-2025).]

IMSA GT MAY 10, 10:53 AM

quote
Originally posted by MERATIME:

.........not allowing the lower control arm to freely fall.






quote
Originally posted by Vintage-Nut:


After the knuckle assembly has been removed, carefully and slowly; lower the bottom control arm to remove the springs...




Keyword.....SLOWLY lower the control arm. When I see the term "freely fall" so will the spring......freely shoot across the room.
MERATIME MAY 10, 01:34 PM
Thank you all for your response. I will look at these comments and use them towards this process. Enclosed are photos of the current status. I meant to mention earlier that prior to this posting, that I double tied the springs to the front member with two different ropesfor security when that moment comes when the springs pop out.





[This message has been edited by MERATIME (edited 05-10-2025).]