Technical front spring broken

[malcolmgb]

I have been away for a while and left my Idea parked up, like a fool I left the handbrake on. Tried to drive away and the rear brakes were locked on, kept on hoping they would release as normal but there was a bang at the front near side, the tyre burst and the suspension dropped.
Inspected and found that about the lower 6" of spring had broken off, spring is out of seat and punctured tyre, the broken ends are clearly rusted so an old fracture. I imagine the seized brake had loaded the suspension as I reversed and popped the spring out. I have checked and there is no other damage.
The question is do I rebuild old spring temporary to keep me on the road until I can get a new spring, do I replace both or will 1 be ok, do I use a genuine Fiat or can I get elsewhere, and does anyone know the approximate price of a spring. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, I can upload pictures tomorrow if that is a help.

 

[T14086]

Change springs in pairs (unless very low mileage)

 

[malcolmgb]

change springs in pairs (unless very low mileage)

25,000

 

[T14086]

Change as pair definately, not the easiest/safest of job to do (no disrespect) so might be worthwhile getting a garage to do the work?

 

[malcolmgb]

Change as pair definately, not the easiest/safest of job to do (no disrespect) so might be worthwhile getting a garage to do the work?

understood, I was a car mechanic until the early 80's so macpherson struts are something I have dealt with before, what are your concerns? other than a spring compressor are there any other special tools required?

 

[Hellcat]

understood, I was a car mechanic until the early 80's so macpherson struts are something I have dealt with before, what are your concerns? other than a spring compressor are there any other special tools required?

bench compressor or a set of at least 3 with safety catches.

 

[T14086]

understood, I was a car mechanic until the early 80's so macpherson struts are something I have dealt with before,

no problem then, from memory you need to remove bonnet to get to top of the strut.

 

[malcolmgb]

thanks T14086.
Had a look today in daylight, looks straightforward, move sensor wires and brake hose out of way, remove both upright bolts and single nut on strut under bonnet, then remove complete damper/strut. I don't think the bonnet is an issue strut is under windscreen bulkhead. The only problem I can see is corrosion on threads of the strut, my experience was with older fine threads, metric threads seem coarser so hopefully should be ok.
As I said at the top of thread the spring was broken, an old break judging by rust on the fracture, is this common today? 4+ years and low miles.

Hellcat - I understand your caution but with care and 2 of us working on it we should be ok. I am on a tight budget due to unemployment, the reason I have the car after many years of company cars, means that garages are out of the question at present.

 

[T14086]

thanks T14086.
Had a look today in daylight, looks straightforward, move sensor wires and brake hose out of way, remove both upright bolts and single nut on strut under bonnet, then remove complete damper/strut. I don't think the bonnet is an issue strut is under windscreen bulkhead.

my mistake, I was thinking of a few water leaks recently that needed bonnet removed....however I think once bonnet had to be removed to get 'that corroded bolt' off