Chevy & GMC Vans

A nice long rant:

So I figure 3 day weekend coming up, might as well take Friday off as well and have 4 days to finish my lift.

Friday: I have 2 new HD 3" lift coil springs to put in, add-a-leafs and all new Rancho RS5000's all around. Friday I'm getting things ready: jacks, jackstands, tools, manuals, HD coil springs, shocks..... Um, these Rancho RS5152's look a bit different than what I expected. They have the eye ring mount on top, not the threaded stud! Seems I got the wrong info from a very trusted source in MI and I bought the wrong ones! So in a panic I post here on the site, and a kind fellow informs me that those are for the AWD, not 2WD! Ahhhh Sheeeeeeit! Of course I bought those shocks cheap on Ebay, and cannot return them. So I start calling around trying to find Rancho RS5146 shocks. Turns out THEY ARE OBSOLETE! Nobody near me has any left! So, I go PartsAmerica's (Kragen here) website and buy Monroe shocks, which were white in the photo. I go to the store to pick them up.....and they're some crappy silver color! And they were far more expensive than any Rancho shock too! So I painted them white. I figure slap on a red shock boot and the Rancho RS5000 stickers that I have from the other useless shocks, and BAM I have generic Rancho's. So I overcame the first obstacle. By this time it's getting dark so the lift will start Saturday.

Saturday: Try to get up early, slept in an additional 2 hours! By the time I shower and get out to the car It's like noon. So, here's where I'm at.

1. I have all the components I need: springs, leafs, shocks, etc.
2. I live in an apartment, and I have one single car stall to work in. Just so happens that one one side there is a wall, and on the other parks the manager, who hates me! I have about one foot of space to work if I park about an inch from the wall. SEE PIX. (was enough room to work for my block/shackle lift)
3. I have a puddle of oil that rivals any "tar pit" in the world under my car due to leaky oil cooler lines, and crud up the yinyang all over the control arms and everything else. So lets just say it's nasty and slippery, which is sometimes a good thing, but not in this case!

So I go with Overlands method of spring replacement. Everything is going smoothly.....I use a jack to support the rear of the control arm, remove the bolts, lower slowly and the spring shoots out stopped only by the chain I used to secure it. All is well so far. I get the new spring up in there (used gaffers tape to hold on the dang rubber cushion) and start jacking.....the jack. Scary, but it actually starts to compress and the arm is getting close to its mounting points. As the arm gets higher, almost where it needs to be, the dang van starts lifting off the jack stands! Oh crap! What to do now? So I lower, reposition the jack slightly to one side, and raise. Now one side of the arm is slightly higher and gets up in the frame where it needs to be so I can get the bolt in. Well, couldn't get it to line up. 3 hours more of trying this method and got NOWHERE! Could not get things to line up. Now, if there wasn't a massive puddle of oil under the car, and the car was actuall resting on the jackstands, I might have gotten underneath and used a crowbar to help get things aligned. I guess an empty cargo van is pretty light? Anyway, I decide to go with an alternate method posted here on this site. I gave up for the day, it was too dark and I was very sore!

Sunday: I remove the spring, and bolt the arm back on. Now I'm going with the upper ball joint removal method. Seems like a lot more work, removing the calipers and all that, but it was my last resort. So I print out the direction off this site and get working. Loosen the nut and a few whacks with a sledge and the ball joint will pop up?!! NO! Not mine! I pounded on it for an hour! Then tried a pickle fork, which is not a good idea unless you plan on replacing the boot. That didn't work either! So off to Autozone this time for a ball joint separator. One look at that tool and I thought, what the hell? Hows that gonna do the job? So I also rented a pitman arm remover. Get home, look at the joint, look at the separator, look at the joint, what? That is definitely not going to work. So I decide to use the pitman arm remover to press out the ball joint stud. (A pitman arm remover looks very similar to the tool GM has for this purpose) Well, of course at some point some moron modified the tool, grinding off about 1/4 inch off each edge of the clamp, a 1/4 that I need for it to grab onto the spindle! I ended up making some steel shims, and after another hour of tightening and repositioning I finally got the dang joint to pop out!

So now I go to put on the coil spring compressor I rented. TOO SMALL! It looked heavy duty to boot, but the cups that wrap around the spring are too small! So that was useless. I tried to muscle the spring in without it, using a crowbar and and 2 biceps, not happening! The angle of the spring to the control arm is just way to gnarly. I could not do it! This method might have worked with the right coil spring compressor, but even the author of this method noted his compressor popped off. This method just seems too difficult, time consuming, and dangerous. I had to give up. I had not finished one spring install in 3 days of work! That left Monday (Presidents Day) to get the rest done so I could drive the van to work? No way. I put all the original crap back on. It was a very sad day.

I have never attempted such a feat with one foot of space along side to move. I strongly suggest you find yourself a nice open space before you attempt to install any suspension components. Also a great idea to have a buddy help out. Oh well, thanks for reading my rant!

(FYI: You must use a INSIDE type coil spring compressor, there is no way to compress the 3" HD springs without it. And a ball joint separator works only on the lower control arm, and is used solely for the purpose of removing/installing the ball joint from the arm. It CANNOT be used to separate the ball joint from the spindle. You need to use a generic puller, or I found a Pitman arm puller worked perfectly - if you get one that hasn't been modified! Valuable things I didn't know before I started this lift! Consequently I gave up, and have since successfully installed a 6" (4" spindle plus 2" block/shackle lift).

How the van will look in the near future:

You have my sympathy.
I paid a shop to do all my lift work, and never regretted one cent spent.
But that's just me.
Hope you get 'er done soon...

Hey man, sorry to hear about your troubles. I think I would either take it to a friend who has a shop, or just break down and pay a 4x4 shop to install the springs. I had a friend do mine and he is a professional mech, it was a bear like you said. He did use the right size spring compressor though. That being said, he told me it was the scariest thing he had ever done. Those new springs are rigid to be sure. If they get loose they can take your head off. Just be careful.

Well, it's almost a funny tale... but I've been there, so I'm not laughing... (much.)

All I know is that just about every project I undertake never goes like it is supposed to.

Good luck on finally getting the lift in there.

Sounds like you were given an outside strut type compressor. You have to use an inside coil spring compressor. Autozone rents them, they look basically like two plates with a big bolt in the middle. I installed my 3" HD springs form Overlands and you have to use a coil spring, they are way to stiff compress enough with just using the vans weight. I also had to use my air hammer on the compressor, I'm not sure if I could have ever got them compressed enough by hand to get in the pockets. Also, sounds like you are doing it, but make sure you run a chain or something through the springs when installing. I had to also use a 4 ft bar to pry mine in place and luckily when the one slipped lose, it went into the pocket, would have taken my leg off if it went then other way. These springs were the worst part of doing my lift, they were nightmarish to say the least. If ya have any other questions shoot me an email or PM. If ya get them in, dont' worry, they will soften up a little and you won't lose ALL your teeth

Man, I'm worn out reading all you went through. Way to much for my head.

Ya know, I remember working on my gravel driveway and many other places that weren't comfortable at all and this always came to mind,,why large cities don't have a garage where folks can work on their rides,, maybe even rent tools. Guess it's because of the liability involved but sure looks like a possible money maker to me. I know when I was stationed in RI, we had a huge shop on base that was packed mostly on the weekends with guys working on their rides. Anyway,,good luck on the install,,,I'd burn the mgr's ride and be done with it.lol

Rebel wrote:Man, I'm worn out reading all you went through. Way to much for my head.

Ya know, I remember working on my gravel driveway and many other places that weren't comfortable at all and this always came to mind,,why large cities don't have a garage where folks can work on their rides,, maybe even rent tools. Guess it's because of the liability involved but sure looks like a possible money maker to me. I know when I was stationed in RI, we had a huge shop on base that was packed mostly on the weekends with guys working on their rides. Anyway,,good luck on the install,,,I'd burn the mgr's ride and be done with it.lol

Yeah, those days are somewhat gone for me. I'm waiting to install my lift kit in my brother in laws garage with a hoist. Hopefully this weekend.

Keep up the good work, we've all been there.

Rebel wrote: Ya know, I remember working on my gravel driveway and many other places that weren't comfortable at all and this always came to mind,,why large cities don't have a garage where folks can work on their rides,, maybe even rent tools. Guess it's because of the liability involved but sure looks like a possible money maker to me. I know when I was stationed in RI, we had a huge shop on base that was packed mostly on the weekends with guys working on their rides.

We have a local place that is just that....costs $100 for membership, then you can get a paint package with unlimited garage time or pay by the hour, rent tools, rent the paint booth ot he lifts they have. They m,ake you sign a legal waiver though for injuries or even car damage while in the shop. It was worth it though, as they offered training once or twice a month on body repair, welding, painting, etc by some experts.
I swapped in a motor in my 72 cutlass, plywood on the dirt ground, tarp draped overhead to stay dry....never again, at least I would have a concrete pad if nothing else.

Just curious Blazer,,how long is it open daily ?

There is an old warehouse around the corner form me that does that. If a bay is open it's free for you to use. If you want a bay with a hoist it's $10 a day and the owner will also rent tools and such if need be. The place is open 24hrs.

That's pretty cool Potskie,,24 hours a day, 10 bucks a day,,wonder what else is gong on there ? The prices sound a little low but if most work like I do on a project,,car could be there a month ot two.lol

as far as liability goes in having a city or town garage, A signed waver eliminates that problem.

The community garage would be a great concept, Tool rental would be a nice touch too, someone at the garage to help or at least supervise would help or others working there would likely help people around them as well

I wish I had a garage of my own, much less a community garage....

I know this is an older thread and I may be too late to help 97cargocrawler but there is a trick yo this that would have saved the weekend.

If he would have used a chain attached to the frame and slung under the jack it would have compressed the spring and not lifted the van. I suppose a strap would work as well but I wouldnt recomend it.

I actually tried that! On the sixth day! I used a massive motorcycle jack and a 2000# strength chain. Problem was I could not get the chain tight enough. It it were a straight length of chain it may have worked. But I could not find a safe enough place to attach either end, not any place that would take 1000 - 2000#'s of pressure. So I wraped it around the jack, up through the spring and around the chassis. Got as much slack out by hand as I could. Problem was however, with increasing pressure the slack kept loosening up again. I tried it for two days and scraped that idea too. Believe me, I was trying everything. I have a masters degree in physics and I applied more than one theory to the problem. But I side with safety since I am always alone wrenching under the truck. I wasn't looking forward to the stagecoach ride those springs give anyway. I already have that teeth chattering ride in my Land Cruiser. I'm keeping the springs for a future project, and hopefully the spindles I ordered will be the winner. Not looking forward to all the extra work though.

Rebel wrote:That's pretty cool Potskie,,24 hours a day, 10 bucks a day,,wonder what else is gong on there ? The prices sound a little low but if most work like I do on a project,,car could be there a month ot two.lol

Tool rental is where they make their money lol. That and it's an old run down warehouse that h can't sell and no one wants to lease so at least he is getting something.