1987 Thunderbird rear suspension replacement

[glamprinos]

Hi All;

Here's another dumb question....get ready for a lot from me as I work to get this T-Bird back on the road. I'm interested in replacing the front and rear shocks/springs/struts. My '87 is a 5.0 V8. No turbo, no special edition model. Just a regular MFI V8. My google-fu is failing me and I can't seem to find a youtube video specifically for T-Birds. I know a lot of Fords are built very similar. Would this show what I'm trying to do?

Thanks all! Oh and I found the dumb questions are easier to answer than the smart ones!

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[1984]

Hi All;

Here's another dumb question....get ready for a lot from me as I work to get this T-Bird back on the road. I'm interested in replacing the front and rear shocks/springs/struts. My '87 is a 5.0 V8. No turbo, no special edition model. Just a regular MFI V8. My google-fu is failing me and I can't seem to find a youtube video specifically for T-Birds. I know a lot of Fords are built very similar. Would this show what I'm trying to do?

Thanks all! Oh and I found the dumb questions are easier to answer than the smart ones!

yes the video shows what you are looking to do . HOWEVER the video makes it look easier than it really is . every bolt in the video comes off as planed ( not reality ) . You are dealing with springs that are under tension espically in the front ( being beefier v-8 springs ) . things can go really bad really fast and you don t want to be on the receiving end of a launched spring .
best bet send it out to a pro !!

 

[glamprinos]

yes the video shows what you are looking to do . HOWEVER the video makes it look easier than it really is . every bolt in the video comes off as planed ( not reality ) . You are dealing with springs that are under tension espically in the front ( being beefier v-8 springs ) . things can go really bad really fast and you don t want to be on the receiving end of a launched spring .
best bet send it out to a pro !!

Thanks for the quick reply 1984!
Yeah, I didn't think it was quite as easy as that video shows. My plan was to get a spring compressor to keep my face being removed when the spring shoots out. I'm really surprised he didn't explain the necessity in the video. Even an inexperienced guy who's changed oil on occasion knows to use a spring compressor. I'll see if I can borrow one. Or at worst they're like $40 on Amazon. I'm thinking I should hose down the bolts with WD40 a few days before I give this a try. The front suspension might be out of my league. But IDK - I might try the rear springs. I changed the shocks once before many years ago and it wasn't that bad at all.

Thanks again!

 

[OneAmongOthers]

Removing springs are not a big deal. More often than not you just need enough tension on the spring compressor to hold it in place as you remove the ball joints. Rear springs are a snap. Just lower the axle a bit and they fall right out. Just be careful of the rear brake line.