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broken rear coil spring

6K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  Batfinnk 
#1 ·
when having new tyres fitted nice pointed out my car had a broken spring near the very end, rather than pay them the 137 quid per side i have ordered 2 off internet for 66 , has anyone changed one? it looks relatively simple, has anyone else had one break?
 
#2 ·
#4 ·
should be pretty much as those you've done before, your original post sounded like it was posted by someone who hadn't done any springs before, hence the warning,

to be honest, i always buy a haynes manual for the car. They usually explain quite clearly how to do bits and bobs like springs. Amazon apparently sell them the cheapest. I haven't bought one for a while, as i've been buying cars to match the manual... :) i'm on car number 3 with this book, lol
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
Do you need a spring compressor for the rear springs?
no you don't as it turns out! did mine today and WAY HAYNES MANUAL SAYS TO DO IT IS WRONG!!!

you DO NOT undo drop link or shock absorber as the HAYNES instructs, once car is safely jacked up and supported with wheel off put a trolley jack or similar under where the spring sits and lift it very slightly, this is to take pressure off the bolt you have to undo, its the bolt holding this lower suspension piece directly under and behind the brake disc. the idea is when you undo this bolt which has a 15mm head you can lower the bracket and replace the spring, very easy.

hard part is putting bolt back in, using the trolley jack raise up suspension bracket so you can get bolt part way in then reposition jack directly under where bolt is and lift it again, takes a bit of fiddling but once lined up goes straight in.

very easy job no compressors needed
 
#8 ·
Do you need a spring compressor for the rear springs?
no you don't as it turns out! did mine today and WAY HAYNES MANUAL SAYS TO DO IT IS WRONG!!!

you DO NOT undo drop link or shock absorber as the HAYNES instructs, once car is safely jacked up and supported with wheel off put a trolley jack or similar under where the spring sits and lift it very slightly, this is to take pressure off the bolt you have to undo, its the bolt holding this lower suspension piece directly under and behind the brake disc. the idea is when you undo this bolt which has a 15mm head you can lower the bracket and replace the spring, very easy.

hard part is putting bolt back in, using the trolley jack raise up suspension bracket so you can get bolt part way in then reposition jack directly under where bolt is and lift it again, takes a bit of fiddling but once lined up goes straight in.

very easy job no compressors needed
Yeah thought it was odd for spring compressors to be mentioned when working with this certain suspension setup. It was the same as my old car, and if I had a breaker bar and plenty of elbow grease at hand, it would of been pretty easy!
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Do you know if it's the same sort of setup as the mk2 focus? I did exactly how you explained with yours using the jack and removing the bolt. Although I couldn't get the spring out. Was literally about 10mm away from getting the spring out, had crowbars and prys and it would just keep popping back in. Absolute nightmare! especially as you described getting the bolt back in, took me forever to get it all aligned up.

tried to use spring compressors just to give it that little bit more squeeze but the spring compressor was too big so couldn't compress it much :eek13:
 
#10 ·
Do you know if it's the same sort of setup as the mk2 focus? I did exactly how you explained with yours using the jack and removing the bolt. Although I couldn't get the spring out. Was literally about 10mm away from getting the spring out, had crowbars and prys and it would just keep popping back in. Absolute nightmare! especially as you described getting the bolt back in, took me forever to get it all aligned up.

tried to use spring compressors just to give it that little bit more squeeze but the spring compressor was too big so couldn't compress it much :eek13:
no idea , this was for mk4 mondeo, is there not advice on focus on this site somewhere
 
#11 ·
Using Veralum's method I successfully changed both rear springs on my Mk4 2008 petrol today in under 2.5 hours. No clamps were needed to insert the new springs. As stated it's a little bit fiddly to get the lower arm bolt lined up when putting it back together but adjustment with a small jack and a hammer helped. No clamps are needed to insert the new springs.
 

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#12 ·
Im just about to make plans to start doing mine. Would somebody mind just clarifing with 15mm bolt i need to remove, either on the above pic or with a photo.

Limited tools here and limited experience with cars but just done rear hubs and disks and pads all way round.

Thanks..
 
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