I hesitate to bring this up....again....but just added a set of 2wd aerostar front coils to my '56 Victoria. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. The old coils were 56 years old and had been cut with a tourch sometime in the past (to lower it) the new coils set the car a 1/2 inch higher but I think they will settle about the same as the old but the handling and "bumps" are unbleavable. So if anyone is thinking of doing this..do it. I got the coils from O'rilleys for $67 for the set. Just thougt I'd pass this on if anyone is thinking of lowering their car about a 2" to 2 1/2" in the front. Part # Moog PH CC850 and made in the USA.

Location:Washington,Ia

Hey all. Put my MOOG CC850 (Aerostar) springs on my Ranchwagon this morning. All went well but thought I would pass on a few observations.



Since I had replaced the ball joints in the last year it came apart relatively easy. I just undid the lower ball joint and sway bar. I left upper ball joint and tie rod connected. I had to undo one bolt on my caliper and rotate it out of the way so I could use my home made ‘ball joint presser outer’.

Removed shocks and old springs. Noticed that Aerostar springs where quite a bit shorter. Per instructions, tight wound coils up.

Bolted everything back up. Then the fun started.



Attempted to reinstalled the shocks (KYB Gas-A-Just), but couldn’t compress them. Appears with the original spring fully extended, the upper rubber bumper compresses enough to install the shock bolts. Since the Aerostar springs are shorter they don’t exert any pressure on the rubber bumper. In fact I could move the spring with the suspension fully extended. I had to used my bottle jack to compress shocks so I could install the bolts.



Buttoned everything up, installed wheels, removed car stands, dropped the jack and… couldn’t get my floor jack out from underneath. I had put a 4x6 on my jack in order to get the car high enough to get the old springs out.



Jacked car back up, reinstalled car stands, removed 4x6, etc.



Looks great, may be a little too low with the Granada spindles, 1” spring cup lowering blocks and Aerostar sprigs. The trimmed lower A-arm bumper has ~1” clearance. From the center of the front fender cutout (passing through the center of the spindle) to the ground is 23”. We’ll see.



Thanks for listening to my rant, maybe help someone else when doing this.


"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

MC, don't feel alone, the shock and jack problem happen to all of us. Even though I don't own a full size car, it would be interesting to know the free length of the springs that came out. Might help the next guy. No one ever told me if the springs I removed from my 'bird were stock height or not. That the Aerostar springs raised my bird, then settled to where it was leads me to believe mine might have been cut.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ