C5 Spring Swap

[MidNiteFury01]

This is a follow-up to the LS1 How To Site; http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=20 on how to swap the transverse springs for a C5. All in all it was good article, and I wanted to share a few tricks I picked up with some busted knuckles & long contemplation sessions;

- Disconnect the battery. I always make it a habit to do this when disconnecting electrical components. In this case the ABS & wheel speed sensors.

- Use jack-stands on the rails at the tie-down points instead of the cross-member as it allows more room to work under the vehicle.

- Coat hangers work wonders when trying to support the calipers. Use a lug nut to secure the rotor to the hub and prevent the rotor from banging into the caliper bridge, among other things, when you lower the upper control arms for the front spring swap.

-I counted threads showing for both the front & rear springs instead of placing tape and match to some horizontal reference point which can change based on your position, especially for the rears.

- A magnet came in handy to hold the shims when removing the upper control arm bolts.

- When removing the end links, I removed the top nut and slid the bolt out of the sway bar rather than loosening the lower one as seen in the article. It is easier to slip the bolt in when raising the suspension during reassembly.

Procedure Changes:

1) For the front spring I found it easier to perform removal of the upper control arm bolts, end-links, lower damper bolts, & calipers on both sides rather then just the drivers side. This only adds a few minutes to the job & makes spring removal significantly easier. I completed it once following the directions exactly, then the way in this section, which was much easier. The arc in the FE1 spring still made it slightly irritating.

2) Before reassembly of the front spring, I added polyurethane lubricant to the spring height adjusters to minimize the potential for squeaks and makes it easier to turn the thread when the suspension is reassembled & under tension.

3) Centering the spring can be somewhat nerve racking because the arc does not allow the rubber mounts to fit perfectly snug into the cradle and the arc hits the bottom of the pan. My experience following the LS1HowTo article was that the rubber mounts "squished" out a bit & did not rest properly in the machined cradles when torquing the bracket bolts before the suspension was assembled.

3a) Once I placed the spring in the cradle and the spring ends are within the lower the control arms, I centered it so the inside mounts are lined up exactly with a spot on the machined cradle for both sides.

3b) I added a few drops of blue Locktite to the bracket bolts and re-installed the brackets, tightening each bolt in sequential pattern. Until the spring no longer moved. This is a good time to adjust the spring height adjusters as they are not resting on the control arms & turn very easily.

3c) I raised the passenger side lower control arm about an 1" with a jack on the ball joint. The bracket securing the passenger side spring became loose as the arc in the spring decreased. I then tightened the bracket, lowered the jack & moved to the drivers side, repeating the steps. The process repeated a few times until the lower control & suspension components were re-installed. Once all control arms, dampers & end-links were tightened, I secured the spring brackets to 46 lbs-ft. This go around, I found the spring was perfectly centered and nesting quite well within the cradle.

4) Don't forget to re torque all components as your life & someone else's life depends on it.

So that is my 2cents worth on a good article for swapping springs.

There a few others procedures such as on YouTube by Froggy;

...and others indicating just lowering the lower control arm on the drivers side.

I don't have any comment on those, as I didn't try those procedures.

[Ted Y]

Nice write up!

[Shifty]

Nice write up!

Exactly what I was going to say! Seems like that would be a great time to change your upper control arm bushings too, if needed...

[Guest badbobs95]

Good job Ben! You wanna do mine next?

[MidNiteFury01]

Good job Ben! You wanna do mine next?

I'd be glad to help you out, it's not that bad of a job, just takes a few hours.

It would be a good time to change out the bushings in the uppers if necessary, I haven't attempted that, but when I do, I let everyone know.