91 Coil Spring Replacement
 

Well...I decided today would be a good day to swap out the coil springs in the truck. It was sagging and turning felt like the bumper was going to scrape the street ;)

Front springs TRW CS7226 - 2 for $102
4 Monroe Gas-Magnum shocks - $38 ea
Front is #34868
Rear is #34832
Total Damage: $274

Truck handles turns MUCH better. Doesn't roll over anymore on turns. I didn't measure the difference before and after, But I can tell sitting in it and driving that it sits up a bit higher than before. Not like driving a boat anymore bouncing up and down.

The funny part was the shocks were the factory originals. I pushed in the front shock and it never came back out. The rear shocks was so bad I decided to have timed race for collapsing them and checking the rebound.
New shock: 4-5 secs
Old Shock : 1min 35secs lol!!

The springs can be swapped out without using a spring compressor. There is a lot of energy there. Be careful! It can be done easily if you take your time. If you don't understand what a loaded coil spring can do flying out at you, you might want to pass on this one.

Here's what I did.

Put the truck up on jack stands. Make sure it's high enough to drop the lower control arms low enough.

) Remove shock
) Roll floor jack in from front of truck. Place jack under lower control arm near bottom of spring. Jack up a bit to support lower control arm.
) Remove caliper.
) Remove rotor. ( need to do this so lower control arm is able to come out of lower sheild area)
) Loosen nut holding lower ball joint. Do not take off yet, but leave near top of threads.
) Use pickle fork to seperate ball joint from spindle.
) Remove nut from ball joint,
) Remove 2 bolts holding strut rod to lower control arm.
) Pull spindle up off ball joint and towards you and place a small board between ball joint and lower control arm (see pic)
) From front of truck, slowly lower jack to release tention from coil spring.

At this point there should be no tention on coil spring and the jack can be removed. You should be able to at least wiggle the spring. Try it from the front of truck area..not the wheelwell. I used a length of 2x4 on the first side to push the control arm to see if the coil spring was free :)

) Push down on lower control arm and spin coil spring so it will slip over real of lower control arm without catching the end of the coil.

You can reuse the top rubber cushion. If it's got a spot warn through it, just turn it a bit when you place it on the new spring.

The new springs I purchased were TRW CS7226 heavy duty.
They have one end that has the coil tapered down so it sits flat. This end goes up.

Here are some pictures from the project
Project Pictures


Den

I hope your new springs stay "perky" longer than they have for some. To avoid this problem, I went to the 1 ton "super heavy duty" spring. I went with the MOOG 7226S to accomplish this. My truck DEFINITELY set level now (and has for over a year).

Congrats on getting the new springs in. I hope your ball joints separated from the steering knuckle easier than mine did. [eyecrazy]

Carl

The ride improvement with the springs and shocks is great. For $100 even if I have to swap them out in a few years will be worth it. I would like to see the front of the truck sit up higher though. I see from your gallery pics that your truck does sit nice and level.

Seems you actually loose a bit of height since the replacements are ground flat on the top instead of a open/full coil on the end like the stockers.

There looks like there is plenty of room up in the top of the spring seat. I wonder if a spacer could be made to sit up there. Like a custom leveling kit


Den

I also replaced my fronts but they never sagged, one think in the future to keep in mind the 7226s spring according to moog is not the right spring for a one ton, yes i know a lot of books list it as a replacement, but i actually called moog, i made an old post with the right part number back during the summer.

Here ya go, right out of the MOOG parts listing.

MOOG
Front Heavy Duty Coil Springs
GAS - EXC IFS4000
EXCEPT 4 WHEEL/ALL WHEEL DRIVE 7172S 89-93 1

Front Heavy Duty Coil Springs
GAS - w/IFS4000 AXLE - DIESEL
ALL
EXCEPT 4 WHEEL/ALL WHEEL DRIVE 7226S 89-93 1

Front Heavy Duty Coil Springs
HEAVY DUTY
EXCEPT 4 WHEEL/ALL WHEEL DRIVE 5716 89-93 1

Front Heavy Duty Coil Springs
SUPER DUTY
EXCEPT 4 WHEEL/ALL WHEEL DRIVE 5716S 89-93 1

TRW
Front Heavy Duty Coil Springs
HEAVY DUTY
EXCEPT 4 WHEEL/ALL WHEEL DRIVE CS5716 89-93 1
Front Heavy Duty Coil Springs
SUPER HEAVY DUTY
EXCEPT 4 WHEEL/ALL WHEEL DRIVE CS5716S 89-93 1

Yes, The 7226S springs are for gas trucks IF, they have the 4000lb front end. It also says DIESEL ALL. Notice that it is also the only listing that says anything at all about the diesel.

Carl

Carl
Do you remember what the rating was for the 7226S springs? I've got 7226S springs on mine and don't see the lift you got out of yours. The MOOG site was no help at all.

Bob

I don't think the back of Carl's truck is as high as mine. If you look at the hub in relation to the bottom of the bed. Mine looks like it's up higher. I guess a tape measure you figure that out.


Den