[transam7801]

I'm planning to rebuild the front suspension of my wagon (control arms, sway bar links, etc), and I feel it makes sense to replace the front coil springs while the suspension is apart.

What springs make sense to get a basically stock ride height?

My long term plans for the wagon are as follows:
LS swap in the near future
Cruising with my family
Probably will upgrade from my 15" rims to 17" rims at some point (unsure when).

It looks like the current shocks have been replaced at least once, but none of the other suspension components have been touched.


I've been digging through the forums, but some of the parts that have been recommended are either not in production anymore, or somewhat confusing (sedan vs wagon).

Can anyone give me some guidance?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Fred Kiehl]

I have the original springs in my 92 OCC, and it is fine. Unless you can show a dramatic change in the front height, I would just use the original ones over. If you like a soft ride stick with the rubber bushings everywhere. If you do not mind a little more road feel, you can use urethane bushings. The urethane ones last longer as well. If your steering is a little sloppy, adjust your steering box according to the FSM, but remember when adjusting the Torrington bearing on the input shaft, to approach center from a left turn, or the worm shaft will push the bearings tight before you can adjust them.

When I am doing lower control arms, I loosen the lower BJ and remove the arm by unbolting the bushings and lowering it with a jack under the arm. You do not put your life at risk because the spring is contained at all times. Make sure you have a helper when working on the front suspension. When you are installing the new/rebushed arm, spread the pockets a little to allow the new ones to slip into them easily. You can buy a new fully loaded arm for about the same price as the parts to do it. Moog is the preferred brand for all suspension components.

The 15 inch rims with stock tires will give you a better ride than a 17 inch rim with the same diameter tires. Check any rims you might purchase for the correct offset...+6 mm. If the rims come in greater offset, you can get spacers and long studs.

The wagon and sedan front suspension and steering parts are mostly identical, except for some of the RMs that have the shock on the cross shaft, and some have larger anti roll bars. Most people would not notice that the shock is missing, if you decided to not install one.

There is way more, but that should get you started.

 

[transam7801]

Thank you for the excellent and detailed response! I'm strongly leaning toward reusing the springs I have for now and crossing that bridge later.

I'm definitely going to try your trick of removing the bolts to let the spring out. I like the idea of having a knuckle between me and the potential energy!

My reasons for considering larger rims are twofold
-- I think I need larger rims so I can upgrade to disc brakes (unless there's something I don't know about)

-- It feels like 17" rims will make it easier to shop for tires in the future (I'm having a hard time while looking for 15" replacements right now).


My current plan is to follow exactly what you've talked about and purchase premade Moog arms (along with other Moog components to refresh the other pieces while I'm in that part of the car). I'll probably also spring for Bilstein shocks while I'm making a parts purchase to get the most out of this round of maintenance.

 

[Marky Dissod]

... need larger rims so I can upgrade to disc brakes ...

17" wheels definitely leave more 'room' for more brake upgrade options, in a few senses of the word.

... feels like 17" rims will make it easier to shop for tires in the future (having a hard time while looking for 15" replacements right now).

Compared to 235/75R15, 235/65R17 has:
more tires to choose from
more better tires to choose from (not a typo).

 

[buickman1]

When I am doing lower control arms, I loosen the lower BJ and remove the arm by unbolting the bushings and lowering it with a jack under the arm.

You can wrap a chain through the spring also, if you have any doubts about it popping out. I have only done that a few times, but never on a B body.

 

[Fred Kiehl]

You can wrap a chain through the spring also, if you have any doubts about it popping out. I have only done that a few times, but never on a B body.

When removing the lower arm, you are in no risk of having the spring fly out. You can release the tension in a controlled manner. I replace them in the reverse sequence. It usually requires two people, but I have done it by myself. The hardest part is getting the parts to align with their respective positions while installing the hardware.

 

[storm9c1]

I do recommend replacing springs if you have the suspension apart and want stock right height. I did the springs on my wagon a few years ago and the ride height difference was notable. I used Delco 45H0015 (hard to find now). And Bilstein 24-015165 (B46-1516) shocks.

The old springs were quite sagged. I also used non-stock springs on the rears. Variable rate.

Had two different '95 wagons. For the rears, I tried CC613 and the other CC623. Now both PNs are hard to find now. Imagine that. I think the CC613 was a higher ride height. Whereas CC623 was stockish height. I have RCS613V in my notes for the former as well from Autozone, but that was back in 2016. NLA now. And I'm having a hard time cross referencing any of these springs anymore. Sorry. Amazing what a few years and a pandemic can do to parts availability.

We are talking about 2016-2019 time frame when I last bought these parts.

Anyways, I just popped the lower ball joint using the "loosen nut and smack it with a sledge" method, and swung out the lower control arm. I did use a truck spring compressor to make the spring manageable. It made me nervous having all that force on a threaded rod. It felt like handling a bomb. I did have a chain around it once I got it out. It was a fight getting the spring back in and folding up the control arm (the entire car kept lifting before the ball joint reached). I'm sure the "more controlled" approach is to drop the entire control arm. But I personally never did it that way (yet).

You also may find out that a previous owner cut them for lowering. I've seen that before too. It's also made a difference on my sedans. The car will sit higher that you are used to for a while. Be prepared for that. It will settle down.

 

[95wagon]

If you have a cable come along it makes the inner lower arm method a breeze.
You hook the comealong to the control arm and diagonally back to the other side frame rail .
You can then keep the arm placement right where you want as you lift the inner end up.

 

[Fred Kiehl]

I think we all know what a comealong is.

 

[transam7801]

I do recommend replacing springs if you have the suspension apart and want stock right height. I did the springs on my wagon a few years ago and the ride height difference was notable. I used Delco 45H0015 (hard to find now). And Bilstein 24-015165 (B46-1516) shocks.

The old springs were quite sagged. I also used non-stock springs on the rears. Variable rate.

Had two different '95 wagons. For the rears, I tried CC613 and the other CC623. Now both PNs are hard to find now. Imagine that. I think the CC613 was a higher ride height. Whereas CC623 was stockish height. I have RCS613V in my notes for the former as well from Autozone, but that was back in 2016. NLA now. And I'm having a hard time cross referencing any of these springs anymore. Sorry. Amazing what a few years and a pandemic can do to parts availability.

Thanks for the info! The issue you've detailed here is why I chose to forego the spring search for a while (having part numbers but no availability).

I was able to source some Bilstein shocks, though. So I'm hoping those will be an upgrade.

The springs in the car look to be in decent shape (I know looks can be deceiving). When I started doing some of my preliminary disassembly last night, I found that the drivers side front spring still has the finish on it (no rust) and a tag is still visible.

I'll do my best to get some pictures as I tear everything down and share my experience.

 

[randumchat]

Thanks for the info! The issue you've detailed here is why I chose to forego the spring search for a while (having part numbers but no availability).

I was able to source some Bilstein shocks, though. So I'm hoping those will be an upgrade.

The springs in the car look to be in decent shape (I know looks can be deceiving). When I started doing some of my preliminary disassembly last night, I found that the drivers side front spring still has the finish on it (no rust) and a tag is still visible.

I'll do my best to get some pictures as I tear everything down and share my experience.

Detroit Eaton still makes stock spring height springs for the caprice and SS. I'm pretty sure they make them for the wagons as well.

 

[transam7801]

Update...

The front suspension rebuild this past weekend was a success overall. I'm glad I did the front control arms, because more than one of the ball joints felt iffy when I took the control arms out. Also, the bushings were very rotted. Last but not least, the sway bar bolts had worn through the lower control arm (picture in next post).

In case anyone else is using this post as a reference, here's what I did with a basic list of parts.

Front lower control arms - Moog RK620169 and RK620168
Front upper control arms - Moog RK620158 and RK620159
Front sway bar links - Moog K700532
Front sway bar bushings - Moog K6453
Front spring isolators - Moog K160044
Front Shocks - Bilstein 24015165
(upper and lower bump stops were also replaced)

I did a small amount of rear suspension as well
Rear shocks - Bilstein 24291699
Rear spring isolators - Moog K62032


I've also chosen to do a major brake overhaul as well, but I haven't completed that part yet. I'll do my best to report back on that part of the upgrade when complete.

I ended up not changing springs because as noted previously, I had some confusion about which ones made sense for my wagon.

Other tips I gleaned from my experience:

As mentioned in other threads, its critical to bend out the tabs for the lower control arm before inserting the new one. I used a large adjustable wrench to help move the metal, but I'm sure other methods can be found.

To remove my spring, I chose to remove the upper control arm and then the shock (I was having issues removing the upper shock bolt). I made sure I had a jack under the lower control arm as I removed the upper control arm, shock, and knuckle. I then lowered the lower control arm carefully until the lower control arm was at full extension (make sure the car is jacked up on jack stands enough to allow this). I then used a large pry bar to unseat the spring.

Reassembly was a little different than what I saw on this thread, but similar. I taped my upper isolator to the spring and inserted into the frame. I then installed the internal spring compressor into the spring and got it tight enough it would not move, but did not make a large effort to compress the spring yet (my spring compressor was rented from Oreillys). I then used this process: Compress the spring using the spring compressor... if I felt that the spring was not being held in place by the lower control arm, I would give it a few pumps with the jack. I repeated this process until I could release all pressure on the lower control arm and pop the spring into place (if you compress it enough, this should be an easy task). Using the lower control arm to hold the spring and use the compressor seemed like a good compromise. Your mileage my vary.



Feel free to drop any comments or questions you might have about my experience below!

 

[transam7801]

Attached pictures show the holes worn by my sway bar links and the newly installed equipment before I finish the brakes.

 

[transam7801]

Oops! This is actually the most recent front end pic

 

[scot]

LS in your future?
600 pound engine replaced by ~450 pound one (or an LSX 5.3 at 390)
The Eibach Pro Kit will work nicely, all four springs with Airlift's in the rear.

 

[atlantadan]

I'm running the pro-kit/airlift bags in a wagon and once the bags were adjusted, the car sits perfectly and cruises great

 

[transam7801]

LS in your future?
600 pound engine replaced by ~450 pound one (or an LSX 5.3 at 390)
The Eibach Pro Kit will work nicely, all four springs with Airlift's in the rear.

Thanks for the idea! I'm still on the hunt for a good LS engine, but that's the plan. I'm excited about the increased performance possibilities compared to my TBI setup.

Do you run the Eibach pro kit on a wagon?

 

[atlantadan]

LS in your future?
600 pound engine replaced by ~450 pound one (or an LSX 5.3 at 390)
The Eibach Pro Kit will work nicely, all four springs with Airlift's in the rear.

Gen 2 LT1 with all accessories + oil + engine mounts, but no exhaust = 479 lbs
LS2 (with FAST 102 manifold, 4" Callies crank, forged rods/pistons) with accessories + oil + engine mounts, but no exhaust = 392 lbs

Thanks for the idea! I'm still on the hunt for a good LS engine, but that's the plan. I'm excited about the increased performance possibilities compared to my TBI setup.

This is worth an entirely different thread. There are a lot of pro's and cons, and unexpected expenses, associated with an LS swap. They're cool and all, but a b-body LS swap is so common, it's almost boring. A bult LT1 stands out now. I even had a few at the shows tell me how cool it was to see a built LT instead of an LS under the hood.

Do you run the Eibach pro kit on a wagon?

I do. Right after the install. Springs have settled in a bit since this shot. 20" wheels. The LCA's were sitting on the bumpstops, so I cut the stops down a bit. Probably 1/2". I made an adjustable linkage for the rear leveling sensor so I can dial-in the bags to where the car sits dead level.

Taken post-settling.