B+G Springs, Front


     These lowering Springs will lower the suspension by 1.4" in front and back. These springs will also provide a stiffer ride and will allow for less body roll. Bottom line, I Love Them!

Installation of Fronts- These instructions were written by Dean and proved to be extremely helpful. There were a few differences with my Saab so I have added some tips and instructions to it which are highlighted in Red Italics.

Tools required:
Wide (2.5" gap) jaw putnum puller for the tie rods ends, or a 2 arm gear puller, if you have neither, get the two are puller has you may have more use for it down the road.
16mm 1/2" socket
15/16" socket
13mm hex socket and open ended wrench
11mm open ended wrench and perhaps a socket as well.
16mm open end and close end 12 point combination wrench
1 & 1/4" 12 point 1/2" drive socket. Not an impact socket, wall would be too thick!
10mm hex bit for 1/2: drive or 3/8" with 1/2 to 3/8 drive adapter, I used 10 mm hex alan key
5mm allen key
1/2" drive torque wrench for over 200 ft-lbs
#40 torx drive, bit or key
Two hydraulic floor jacks
Hammer
6 ft long lever, a 2x4 would be ideal
Heavy coat hanger wire to make hangers for calipers, or extra jack stand
Spring compressor, one kit consists of two compressor units for one spring
Pin wrench with 5.5 to 6.0 mm pins for 39mm center to center. Commonly known as a face pin spanner. If you don't have one, you can use a chain wrench or large water pump pliers. I still don't know what this is
18 mm deep socket and wrench
Small, long, round chisel
Large and small breaker bars, I made my own for this job


1) Remove hub caps if equipped. Use the 1 & 1/4" socket and 1/2 drive breaker bar to loosen up the nut on the spline end of the drive shafts. You can safely remove the nuts at this time. Loosen the wheel mounting bolts. You may have to drive the socket onto the nuts with a hammer. A close fit!

2) Jack up the front of the vehicle on both sides and remove the wheels. Now fully remove the 1 1/4" drive shaft nuts if not already done. If the brakes are needed, they are still operational at this point. But that would require an assistant.

3) Remove one 5mm hex alan head screw on each brake rotor, turning the steering wheel to expose if necessary, remove one 5mm hex alan screw for each ABS senor, and suspend behind the sway bar to keep out of harms way. This removal is not required but recommended. The driver's side hex screw was stuck on my Saab, but there is enough slack in the wire to remove the strut and work on it with the sensor still attached.

4) Loosen the 3 13mm hex nuts at the top of the strut. DO NOT remove the 11/16 nut on the top of the shock piston shaft. You may loosen it to break it torque only to make later work easier. You can use a 13mm OE wrench at this point to secure the shaft while using a 11/16" OE wrench.

5) Remove the two 10mm alan cap bolts from each caliper and remove the caliper from the hub and hang from the steel brake line mounting bracket ensuring that the rubber brake line is not taking a load. You will need a 1/2" breaker bar to get things going and finish with a ratchet wrench. The bolt has locktite and will not spin out on your fingers. Clean out the 10mm hex cavities in the bolts before attempting to remove. Make sure the hex drive inserts fully as to not damage the fastener.

6) Optional: you can remove the brake splash shields to get more room to work. The shields are easily removed and replaced, IF the 3 #40 torx screws are able to be moved. So if you cannot get all three to break free, tighten up any that moved and skip this operation. Clean the torx cavities of the screws to remove rust and dirt before attempting. An air compressor and blow gun is useful at this time. I did not remove the splash gaurd

7) Remove the tie rod end 16mm nuts (My nut required a 18 mm deep socket) . Try a moderate hammer blow on the end of the tierod after the nut is fully removed. Do not damage the threads. If this does not release the tapered joint, use the 2 jaw gear puller or large putnam removal tool. My passenger's side required a 2 jaw gear puller and a hammer blow to the puller to release the bolt. My driver's side was the opposite, it was so loose that the bolt was turning with the nut. To get the nut off I used one of the spring compressors to apply a clamping force to stop the bolt from turning. Oil the tie rod adjuster clamp screws and adjuster threads (large) at this time for preventive maintenance. Oil also via the sawcuts in the clamps as well.

8) Remove the sway bar from the control arm. Use a 11mm OE wrench up top to secure the fastener as you remove the lower 13mm bolt with a socket wrench. Set aside the nut, curved washer and lower half of the split rubber bushing.

9) Remove the 16mm (18 mm) nut for the ball joint using a OE wrench. There is no room for a socket. Turn the strut to get best access, especially if you left the splash shields on. Breaker bar works well here

10) This is the most tricky part of the operation. There is no room for a commonly available tool. (Perhaps you should attempt this part before other items as much as possible. If you cannot separate the ball joint tapered connection, you will have to give up and put everything back.) I drove wedges against the end of the threads and the drive shaft constant velocity joint housing... which is very heavy. Baab managed to use a cold chisel as a wedge. but you have to avoid cutting the rubber boot! My dealer mechanic states that they do not use a tool as you would expect, but put some force on the control arm to pull down on it a bit, not being too forceful, and then with the strut fully turned to get a good exposure, with the splash shields still on!, they then give the hub a good whack with a hammer right at where the tapered joint is, and they get the joint to pop open. I wish I had known to do that. So a good weight steel hammer is needed. I am sure that they have a technique that will be hard to duplicate. But if this works, it should be fast and easy. I got stuck on this step and was considering giving up until I found the perfect tool for separating the ball joint tapered bolt. I used a small, long, round chisel. I hammered it between the strut bottom and the control arm, I then applied my breaker bar and popped the joint. Once I figured this out I was able to pop the other wheel's joint in 30 seconds.

11) Remove the 1 1/4 drive shaft nut now if not fully removed earlier.

12) Now lever the control arm down using the subframe for a fulcrum. This is where the 2x4 will be used. 6 or 8 feet long does not matter, as long as you have clearance to the side to use it. Move the control arm down to get the tapered pin free of the hub. Move the strut and hub out to then let the control arm back up and remove the lever. I did not need a lever, I just applied some weight to the control arm.

13) Remove the inboard 13mm nut at the strut top to allow the strut to pivot on the two outermost loosened nuts. Watch where the washer(s) are. There are not three. Place he nuts and washers in a safe location!

14) Now the strut is easily pulled to the side from the hub. Pull it out a bit and confirm that the spline will move. If it will not, get the hammer and persuade it. Now pull the strut out to clear the spline WHILE holding the shaft back to keep it form coming out of the transmission (which is not a good thing). Find a location where the shaft will lie down on the control arms which will keep it from coming away from the transmission. Some movement of the shaft from the transmission is ok.

15) Reach down and grab the strut by the spring and with your other hands, sorry, you need to put down the beer, remove the two other 13mm strut top nuts and watch for the washer(s)! Now remove the strut from the vehicle.


16) Install the spring compressor and compress the spring. Follow the manufacture's instructions and safety notes.

17) Remove the 15/16" nut on the shock shaft using an open ended wrench and an 11mm box wrench or socket to constrain the shaft if needed.

18) Remove the large curved washer, the mount, bearing, another curved washer and spring seat. The top rubber spring seat will stick to the top spring seat. Now is the time to check the rubber strut mount and bearings. Mine both looked great with 77k miles on my Saab, they are pictured below.

18a)Put the new spring onto the strut and place the upper spring seat on it. Orientate the new spring so that it will not rub on the lower strut mount. When I installed my springs I made sure that they were both level on top, however this causes a bad creaking noise (metal on metal) whenever the springs were compressed because they would rub the side of the bottom spring seat. I was able to rotate them after the install and fixed the problem.

19)Now the lower washer, curved side up to the rubber of the mount and part numbers down, now the mount with the top washer again curved side to the mount rubber. Put on the nut. Tighten down firmly. Final torque can be done later.

20) Put strut top into the shock tower loosely fitting the two outboard nuts only. Put a washer below the nut that does not ride on the shock tower brace.

21) Pull the bottom end of the strut out too allow the spline shaft to insert into the hub as the strut is pushed back. Do not pull the drive shaft out of the trany!

22) Lever down the control arms and then guide the ball joint pin into the tapered hole of the hub. Engage the 16mm ball joint nut before the shaft is fully inserted. Insert the front sway bar end into the control arm. Remove the lever. Place the lower 1/2 bushing on the sway bar end from below, and the washer curved side to the rubber, torque the nut to 7 ft-lb using a 13mm socket below and a 11mm open ended wrench above to restrain it.

23) Engage the tierod end and torque to 44 ft-lbs. You may need to drive the tie rod end down to develop enough friction to run the nut on. Put some wood blocks under the ball joint and lower the vehicle to create a load on the tapered pin. This will develop enough friction to tighten the 16mm nut. No room for a socket and torque wrench. But you could use a 16mm crows foot. Restore the jacked up height and remove the wood blocks.

24) Use a 5 mm allen key to mount the ABX sensor. Use anti sieze. Fit splash guards, #40 torx, if previously removed, use anti seize.

25) Fit rotor and its retaining screw, 5mm hex, use anti seize. Fit the caliper with the two 10mm cap bolts and torque to 78 ft-lb for 1994 thru 1996 and 81 ft-lb for 1997 and onward.

26) Fit the third strut top 13mm nut and run them down loosely.

27) Run on the 1 1/4" spline shaft nut.

28) Mount the wheel and partly tighten the wheel bolts.

29) Lower the vehicle onto the tire. Torque the spline shaft nut to 214 ft-lb. Torque the road wheels, move the steering wheel back and forth a few times to allow the top of the strut to bead down and torque the 3 13mm nuts to 13 ft-lb. Torque the shock shaft 11/16" nut. There is no provision to stop the shaft from moving...

30) After both sides are done, road test and adjust the toe in and steering wheel center if needed.


Cost: $259 - Shox.com, $13 Spring Compressors + Two Arm Puller Rental
Time: 2+ Hour Per Spring
Difficulty: Difficult; requires many tools + some luck on the condition of the nuts.


        One of the problems that I have noticed with Saab lowering springs are that the rears lower more than the front. This makes it look like bricks are being carried around in the trunk. The B+G springs are especially bad with this, but I believe that I have come up with a solution. It involves modifying the upper spring seat of the front springs to lower the front an additional centimeter. The spring seat is pictured above with the * symbol. The spring seat is a rubber donut that sits on a metal mount. Below is a picture of the rubber seat. The right one is stock and has a thick base, which is angled so one side is thicker than the other. The rubber seat on the left has been cut down. I removed rubber from the bottom of the thick side so it sits level. It sounds a little confusing but is clear when you see it. This should lower my front springs close to 1 cm, but I have not installed the modified seat yet. I hope to soon but right now this is all just theory.


        There are of course other ways to further lower the front suspension such as modifying or cutting the springs, but I strongly recommend against this. My method is easily reversible if problems arise where as cutting the springs is not. But more importantly the springs are specifically designed to handle the weight of the car based on the length of the spring. Cutting the ends of the springs will change the springs performance and could cause damage to the front suspension.

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