CAEMI

I just did the front end last night - spacers over the coils. Zone offroad has installation instructions in PDFs online that are excellent. I just printed off the PDF and followed that, checking off each step. Really not a bad job. Dropped my front axle and installed spacers without using a spring compressor. When they tell you don't take out the lower control arm bolt at the axle, don't. It won't come out anyway so just follow instructions and loosen it. If the driver's side won't drop down enough to get the spring back in, take a small jack and apply some pressure to the passenger side LC mount - that will pivot the driver's side a little and the spring pops right in. (BTW, my wife figured this out...not me.) You'll need a rachet strap, maybe, to pull the axle forward a wee bit to get the pass. side LC bolt back in but that's about the only odd problem I ran into.

Couple of notes...listen to anyone who tells you to be safe. High quality jackstands, chock the wheels, neutral, etc., etc. The whole point of having fun with this stuff is lost if you're dead.

Also, do not waste time with spring compressors. They are stupidly designed, dangerous, and an incredible PITA to fiddle with trying to get them EXACTLY in the right spot to work. Huge aggrovation. Believe me, it is just plain easier to drop the axle. Also, if you even think about using rachet straps on a coil spring, put your tools down and call a psychiatrist. With all due respect to anyone who has tried this, this has to be the most idiotic thing I have ever heard of next to crawling under a car held up by a Chinese hydraulic jack made out of bamboo and Bazooka gum. Many of you are too young to remember "spit rim" wheels...and all the stores about how the ring came flying off and removed a chuck of the mechanic's skull. Well, a rachet strap is far more dangerous than a split ring wheel. Far, far FAR more dangerous.

All this is, of course, just my opinion. I know there are plenty of guys out there that are relaxed about cleaning loaded guns, shaking hands with politicians, and arguing with their wives' mothers. I'm just not one of them.