Book hours GT350 spring replacement

[icecreamtruckz]

Got a quote from a shop that I trust fairly well to swap in the FP springs and he said the book time was 6.5 hours. It surprised both of us. The fronts are no big deal, but he said the rear is more complex and requires dropping a bunch of the suspension to get the springs in and out. Or at least that’s what his service manual was telling him.

I tried to find the hours online, and didn’t find much luck. One or two websites did quote 850-1050, but no breakdown for parts and labor so I assume some of that is parts which doesn’t apply here. I supplied the springs.

Does that sound right? I have rented a spring compressor and done my own springs on a dozen Hondas back in the day. I don’t know enough about the GT350 rear end to figure out if this quote is crazy or not. He’s been in business 30 years and has been working on my cars since the late 90s. I don’t think he would choose today out of the blue to try to screw me. Maybe the book time is just exaggerated versus reality?

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[honeybadger]

that sounds about right to me. Some will do it faster and some slower. But it's definitely not an hour or two + a couple beers.

It's easy enough work if you're mechanically inclined, tho. Just fairly time-consuming

 

[coz0502]

I have a friend who is a used car mechanic at a dealership, we went up to his bay on a Sunday when closed and replaced all 4 springs in about 2 hours. I don't doubt the book's estimate, but I know from personal experience it can be done quicker. We watched either CJ Pony or LMR video on replacing springs and went at it. It could have been done in my garage on jack stands but having the lift made it much more convenient and easier. Good luck.

 

[icecreamtruckz]

that sounds about right to me. Some will do it faster and some slower. But it's definitely not an hour or two + a couple beers.

It's easy enough work if you're mechanically inclined, tho. Just fairly time-consuming

Basically exactly what he said. Not complex, just a bunch of extra crap to do before getting to the springs.

Nothing I can do. Gotta pay to play. He’s the only guy in town I trust and I no longer am able to do this kind of stuff in my driveway.

Thanks

 

[Eyesac]

The rear is way easier than you'd think, certainly not 6.5hrs for all 4. The front doesn't require a spring compressor, just a jack. The rear, as I recall, you can wiggle the spring out with just undoing the top bolt on the knuckle and leaning it out of the way.

 

[WItoTX]

6.5 seems not far off for one person. I did my car in two evenings (Around 4 hours front, 4 hours rear) but I was pretty slow going just because it was my first time going through the process on this car. You absolutely need a spring compressor. In the rear, it's removing the shock and lowering the subframe before you can get to the spring. There really isn't much to remove besides that,. It might not hurt to remove the rear sway bar too.

 

[Eyesac]

6.5 seems not far off for one person. I did my car in two evenings (Around 4 hours front, 4 hours rear) but I was pretty slow going just because it was my first time going through the process on this car. You absolutely need a spring compressor. In the rear, it's removing the shock and lowering the subframe before you can get to the spring. There really isn't much to remove besides that,. It might not hurt to remove the rear sway bar too.

Not trying to be argumentative, you don't need a spring compressor. Put a jack under the knuckle and undo the 3 bolts at the top of the strut, and lower the jack. If you needed a spring compressor, it would only be for about 3/4" of compression, and the 3 bolts are easily that long (leave one nut on). Way safer than a spring compressor IMO too.
The rear, you don't need to touch the subframe mounting. Just undo everything you have to (caliper, rotor, axle nut, axle, shock) and undo the top bolt on the knuckle and pull down and towards you, the whole knuckle will "roll" down. Then wiggle the spring out. I promise!

 

[honeybadger]

Not trying to be argumentative, you don't need a spring compressor. Put a jack under the knuckle and undo the 3 bolts at the top of the strut, and lower the jack. If you needed a spring compressor, it would only be for about 3/4" of compression, and the 3 bolts are easily that long (leave one nut on). Way safer than a spring compressor IMO too.
The rear, you don't need to touch the subframe mounting. Just undo everything you have to (caliper, rotor, axle nut, axle, shock) and undo the top bolt on the knuckle and pull down and towards you, the whole knuckle will "roll" down. Then wiggle the spring out. I promise!

While this method is doable, it's definitely not the safe way to do it. Safest way is to remove the strut, do it on the bench and reinstall. I personally like this method because it gives me the option to fully inspect everything.

But not required. That's sort of why I was saying time required depends on the person doing the install. 6,5 hours sounds right to me if you're "following the book"

 

[WItoTX]

Not trying to be argumentative, you don't need a spring compressor. Put a jack under the knuckle and undo the 3 bolts at the top of the strut, and lower the jack. If you needed a spring compressor, it would only be for about 3/4" of compression, and the 3 bolts are easily that long (leave one nut on). Way safer than a spring compressor IMO too.
The rear, you don't need to touch the subframe mounting. Just undo everything you have to (caliper, rotor, axle nut, axle, shock) and undo the top bolt on the knuckle and pull down and towards you, the whole knuckle will "roll" down. Then wiggle the spring out. I promise!

He has a 350. So now he has to dick around with getting the e brake cable out of the way to remove the caliper in order to do it how you describe.

Your way is way more involved for the rear. But I do agree on the front, that is another option, i completely forgot about that. Either way, front is easy peasy.

 

[galaxy]

Some great comments here and really not too much more a person could add. But one additional point...this job does require an alignment. Throwing that out there to factor in your time and for a job done right.

 

[icecreamtruckz]

Some great comments here and really not too much more a person could add. But one additional point...this job does require an alignment. Throwing that out there to factor in your time and for a job done right.

I got wheels on the way. Should be here next week. Plan is when I get the wheels and tires mounted I’m gonna get it aligned at the same time. So for a week I suppose it’s gonna be tramlining even worse than normal.

 

[Eyesac]

While this method is doable, it's definitely not the safe way to do it. Safest way is to remove the strut, do it on the bench and reinstall. I personally like this method because it gives me the option to fully inspect everything.

But not required. That's sort of why I was saying time required depends on the person doing the install. 6,5 hours sounds right to me if you're "following the book"

I know I'm being a pain in the butt, but go to like 1:15 in this video:

I just loosen the center nut and loosen the 3 bearing nuts, but leave one attached. When you lower the jack it doesn't even get past the 3 bearing studs before all spring tension is lost. Really safe as it's under the car in the strut tower/wheel well. No tension while you're anywhere near the assy.

Incidentally, the second half of the video shows the rear subframe lowering way...that looks easy too lol.

 

[ZX3ST]

I know I'm being a pain in the butt, but go to like 1:15 in this video:

I just loosen the center nut and loosen the 3 bearing nuts, but leave one attached. When you lower the jack it doesn't even get past the 3 bearing studs before all spring tension is lost. Really safe as it's under the car in the strut tower/wheel well. No tension while you're anywhere near the assy.

Incidentally, the second half of the video shows the rear subframe lowering way...that looks easy too lol.

Maybe you might get away with that on a base or GT, but I can tell you after having done this work on mine, I'd not try that on a 350. The stock springs still have a substantial amount of tension until you're way past that point. The FP springs went on with very little coercion from the spring compressor.

The rear springs can be a bit of a pain, and I suspect that's where most of the book time is. Similar to the front, it sucked getting the stockers out, but the FP went in with no fuss.

OP that time is in the realm of reality. Your guy can likely beat book time, but that's why they call it book time.

I'll add this - buy new rear spring lower isolators ahead of time. Both of mine were torn when I disassembled everything.

 

[ZX3ST]

The rear, you don't need to touch the subframe mounting. Just undo everything you have to (caliper, rotor, axle nut, axle, shock) and undo the top bolt on the knuckle and pull down and towards you, the whole knuckle will "roll" down. Then wiggle the spring out. I promise!

Not trying to be argumentative here either, but I finally had to resort to dropping the subframe to get the stock springs out. There isn't enough control arm articulation with the stock spring length. They were loose, but you simply can't quite clear the upper spring seat.

 

[icecreamtruckz]

Maybe you might get away with that on a base or GT, but I can tell you after having done this work on mine, I'd not try that on a 350. The stock springs still have a substantial amount of tension until you're way past that point. The FP springs went on with very little coercion from the spring compressor.

The rear springs can be a bit of a pain, and I suspect that's where most of the book time is. Similar to the front, it sucked getting the stockers out, but the FP went in with no fuss.

OP that time is in the realm of reality. Your guy can likely beat book time, but that's why they call it book time.

I'll add this - buy new rear spring lower isolators ahead of time. Both of mine were torn when I disassembled everything.

I wish I had thought of the isolators before hand. It was dumb of me. I had to replace those before on other cars, usually they are deformed at the very least.

The car has low mileage and is in pristine shape, I’m hoping the factory ones were ok. My guy never called me to to tell me they were jacked up and he is the type that wouldn’t want to put it back together if they were. Still, when you have the all that labor done to get the springs out, I should have had new ones ready to go.

That was dumb of me.

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