I'm wondering if someone can check my math on replacing the front springs. I didn't get the camper package on my F-350 6.7l and have had the +1 springs sitting in my garage waiting to install.

(note: I am assuming my jack stands aren't tall enough to leave the wheels on, so all of the following assumes the front wheels will be coming off at some point)

1. disconnect front sway bar at end links
2. unclip brake lines, top and bottom
3. unclip vacuum line from front axle
4. jack stands under both front frame jack points
5. 2x bottle jacks under the front radius arm jack points, extended enough to get wheels off ground (or enough to compress spring half an inch if wheels were already off ground).
6. unbolt lower shock mount and let 'er hang
7. slowly, evenly, and carefully lower bottle jacks enough to get old springs out and new springs in
8. jack bottle jacks enough to reattach lower shock mount
9. Wheels back on and lower and remove bottle jacks from front radius arm
10. Jack front frame enough to remove jack stands
11. reconnect brake/vacuum lines and retorque wheel lugs

Only other question is whether this can or should be done on one side at a time as opposed to all together. Thanks in advance for any guidance/feedback!

 

I think you're going to have to do one spring at a time unless you have really long arms...

Be a good safety measure to run a chain through the coils to keep the spring from popping out and smashing you in the face!

 

Or and extra bottle jack and a friend who can count and listen!

Interesting thought on the chain. I love safety, but the springs will be fully unloaded before I go anywhere near them. I'm not proposing to do this with a cheater bar or spring compressors. More like:

 

You’re on the right track. Get the frame jacked up as high as you safely can so you have plenty of room to lower the axle.

 

just did this today with the Carli commuter springs. I bought an additional floor jack for safety and used two floor jacks and 6 ton jack stands. The front axle dropped just enough with the floor jacks lowered all the way and the jack stands at max height. I hate lift installations at home.

 

I did front and rear (one end at a time) with 2 jack stands, 1 bottle jack, 1 floor jack, and blocks.

For the front end, I used 2x12 boards cut and stacked 4 deep under the front tires. Jacked up the frame with the bottle jack right behind the LCAs and placed the stands. (6-ton) then put the floor jack under the axle pumpkin, jacked it up, removed the boards, unhooked everything and dropped it. Easy-peasey.

 

I've done this a few times on my 2019 f-450.

prefered method - what you listed...but...jacks under axle, jacks under frame, wheels off. raise frame and lower axle until you can remove the old springs and you may need to rasie frame and lower axle more to get new one in.

not preferred method - if you dont have 4 jacks, and can borrow 2 pairs of spring compressors, this method you dont have to remove wheels, or mess with sway bars, brake lines, vents, etc. put spring compressors on both sides (2 for each spring) and tighten evenly using a right angle air or battery ratchet wrench...at about 80lbs of torque your tool will probally stop...thats enough to proceed....jack up frame until springs can be pulled out. installing new springs require you to transfer spring compressors. this method works but its not prefered as some folks have been injured using spring compressors and some folks think the springs are altered if they are compressed.

in any method...you have to re-use the rubber top cushion thats on the old springs...they are position specific...and so is the bottom of the springs..note their orentation when removing and put the new ones the same way.

there are plow springs, 2.5 lift springs, and higher inch lift springs..when you get to a +3.5 height you will need some corrective devices for track bar, pitman arm, pinion arms, spacers for the antisway bars, brake line bracket extensions, and possible antisway end links.

this is dangerous work, so make sure you have knowledgeable help. you can easily loose fingers or be pinned under the vehicle. common sense is your friend. for example...I needed 6 2x8's cut to 12" the last time I did this...3 per side stacked to 6" in height so that my under frame jacks could be more efficent.....you dont want to place the 2x6's parallel to the curb but rather at a right angle to the curb. if you place the stacked blocks parallel to the curb, your truck will slide off the jacks from Drivers to PAX direction. jacks with built in hydralic pumps work the best.

good luck

 

There is solid advice here. You will need multiple jacks and multiple jackstands and some blocks/wood to make better use of them. If you can't get the truck up high enough to fully unseat the coil, then you can remove the lower coil seat and wiggle them both out. The lower coil seat has an 18mm bolt in the middle of it. Get the truck as high as you can to where weight is unloaded and you can rotate the coil. Remove the coil seat bolt and wiggle the coil + seat out. For me, it took some tapping with a hammer. Once the coil seat was dislodged, the coil fell like dead weight, it did not shoot out. But again, I had enough weight off the coil where I could rotate it but could/didn't want to pry it out.

 

OP: you might need to unbolt the track bar from the axle. itll allow it to droop all the way down. we had the floor jack holding the axle tube and it was down all the way to the point the tie rod was sitting on the floor jack itself lol. So if you can, jack up the frame more before starting to droop out the axle. it's an easy job, just look at what needs to be removed and cleared as you go.

lol what? have you ever removed the springs? they wont come out until their completely extended and then the frame is jacked up enough to let them fall out.

 

Thanks for the wealth of info and great advice! Seems that the consensus is floor jacks + wood over bottle jacks. If I could afford to buy a few 2x12s or 2x6s these days, I'd just buy a new truck (will do anyway, but sounds like I'll be waiting at least a year).

@speakerfritz Good thoughts on bigger springs. I'm just going to from 5310-DA to 5310-CA, best I can tell. So that should be exactly the same height. Thought about going to the BAs, as I feel like the front end is the weak link in my camper set-up, but upgrading shocks from the 9000xl will probably be the ticket.

 

Finally got around to this today. I had it built up in my mind as being harder than it was. Hi lift floor jack didn't need any wood under it to get the tires off the ground. I only ended up removing them for convenience when unhooking the shocks (and all needed to be retorqued anyway because I anticipated removal).

I went very slow (which I always do when I'm learning something new on a critical component) and it took 3 hours. Guessing the next time would be 90 minutes and that someone who does this for a living would need far less than that.

My old springs (DD) are available in Beaverton, OR if anyone with lighter springs needs to upgrade.

 

Track bar has a one time use bolt torqued to 600 ft pounds I think.

 

Didn't have to touch the track bar. Just the sway bar.