1996 Lincoln Continental

macaruso · Posted at Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:27 am

Suspension problem
1996 Lincoln Continental V8 Front Wheel Drive Automatic 132000 miles

I recently purchased an after market suspension conversion for my lincoln from suncore industries to eliminate the air suspension sytem, which had many problems. I have tried many times to contact them (unsuccessfully) with questions about the front strut/spring assembly installation. I am an OK amateur mechanic and I have followed the instructions (incomplete and terrible). My question is: how do I compress the shock/spring assembly enough to reseat it into the pinch knuckle? I have disconnected the sway link and the tie rod end from the knuckle but I still need 3"+. Thanks in advance for any help.

racefan966 · Posted at Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:09 am

Ok depending on the room you have depends on what kind of coil spring compressor you should use. There is ones that compress from the inside and then ones that compress from the outside. You should be able to rent one from either a parts store that rents tools or a rental place. Here is a pic of one of the types.

macaruso · Posted at Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:24 am

Thanks for responding to my question. I have tried to use a spring compressor (external), but there wasn't enough space in the shock tower. I don't see how an interior type would help. I am adding a picture to clarify.

macaruso · Posted at Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:36 am

Well, I tried to upload a picture but I don't think it worked.

macaruso · Posted at Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:44 am

OK. It worked.

racefan966 · Posted at Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:00 am

Ok here is the problem you can't do this in the car. You need to remove the strut first then you replace the springs. So you will unbolt the bolts at the top under the hood and then unbolt the pinch bolt that holds the strut onto the knuckle and then you use the spring compressor to compress the spring and then reomve the bolt in the center. Once that is done the you remove the turn plate and the spring. If you look at the strut on the box you see that there is two bolts on top that is the ones that you remove from the top under the hood. Then you see the bottom of the strut it goes into the knuckle on the bottom and there is one bolt that pinches that together as it goes through the larger hole on the guide that is on the strut. You may need to use a chissle to open the knuckle a bit so that you can get the strut out of it. It will come out in one piece as the strut you have on the cardboard. Hope this helps.