1999 Ford Ranger, 67,000 miles, 2 wheel drive. The front driver side coil spring is out of position. The bottom of the coil is about an inch beyond the indentation that the bottom should be sitting in. The passenger side looks ok. What would cause the spring to move? I am getting a lot of front end noise from that side. If I remove the shock and use an internal coil spring compressor would I be able to move it back in place without dropping the lower control arm? Thanks

 

Jack the truck up to relieve some of the tension on it and shove it back in place with a prybar.
I cant imagine how you managed to pop it out of place though... Hit any big potholes lately?

 

Thats doesnt sound safe have you ever seen the load a coil spring has?

I would do it the safe way esp with dealing with the coil spring Compress it and drop the lower arm its not that bad.

 

That was meant to be a joke... oh well. I should have used a smiley after it.
Yes, I've seen a spring fly across my friends backyard cuz he was too lazy to rent a compressor. He needed to get the old springs off his struts to install coilovers so he just set one up in a vise and loosened the retaining bolt a little at a time until it flew off. Took his wrench with it. He rented a compressor for the next one.

 

I took the safe route, and dropped the lower control arm with a floor jack. I think the reason the coil came out of place was that a had a "dead" shock on that side and I was getting a lot of bounce

 

Did you use a spring compressor as well? If you didnt I wouldnt exactly say thats a safe way.

 

Yes I did use a coil spring compressor, I forgot to mention that. Thanks to everyone who replied.