Im doing the front springs on my lift, i have the right front coil half compressed with spring compressors i got from advance auto parts (rental tools) had just remembered the retaining bolt at the bottom of the spring, is it safe to remove at this point, or do i need to de-compress and remove the bolt?? Thanks

 

To be on the safe side I would decompress it then remove the bolt. I used the compressors once and if it slips from you hitting it with a tool it might slip and pop back at you.

Honestly you dont need the compressor to do the springs. I just put the jeep on stands, put a jack under the front axel. Remove the upper and lower control arms, sway bar, and trac bar then gently lower the jack. The springs will fall right out.

 

If your talking about the clip at the bottom of the coil that holds the spring, you can remove it with the coil compressed.

 

Oh, ok , thanks fellas, im used to 87-93 mustangs, this jeep stuff is new to me, my junk is so rusted up, was trying to avoid taking apart as much as possible, removing the control arms crossed my mind, however, the 2hrs the end link fought me for quickly turned me off from the control arm idea!!

 

You don't need a spring compressor for an XJs front end.

 

its easiest for me just to drop the axle and put coils in. then connect everything back up