'48 suspension tear down advice

[gnoub1948]

Well, I got bored with working on the body and since I need to get the suspension out anyway, I decided to work on that for a while as a change of pace. So, I stopped off at the local rental place and picked up a spring compressor.

In removing the drivers side upper and lowers, etc., I compressed the spring and also ran a chain through the spring and around the frame just in case the spring turned into a cannon shell. I have a lift so that makes life easy, so I lowered the car down to get a jack under the lower control arm as a safety measure. I applied upward pressure with the jack; pulled the shock and then the upright. Then lowered the jack and banged a little to get the lower control arm to fall. The spring was still unstable and the chain was very beneficial since the spring still had a mind of it's own.

So what's my question anyway?; Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I have the spring safely held from shooting out with chain, and I have a jack under the lower control arm that I can slowly lower once the upright is disconnected, do I really need to compress the spring?

Thanks!

Gary

[Young Ed]

I'd say your ok. I just took a parts frame apart just by undoing the 4 bolts on the upper control arm. The spring barely even moved the suspension. Its so contained within the frame that it never came out.

[Norm's Coupe]

I removed the springs off a rolling chassis without a problem. The chassis was up on jack stands and wheel was hanging freely. Used the type spring compressor that goes through the center of the spring. Compressed the spring and then simply lifted it out. Did not tie the spring to anything prior to compressing. Put the spring in the vise, then removed the spring compressor from it without a problem. So.......I think it's better to just let the wheel hang free when removing the spring.