ok, after dealing with a few broken bolts, some broken tools, and endless cursing, I'm about done with lifting the rear.... I have the shocks in and both rear springs, u-bolts, and front leaf bolts loosely tightened. I'm having trouble getting the rear bolts into the shackle. I've tried lifting the rear with a block of wood jammed between the spring to flatten it out. I've had a buddy push on the shackle while I pulled the spring and tried to align the holes and get the bolt in but nothing seems to work too well and I don't want to put too much pressure on the rear and take weight off the jack stands.

any thoughts? successful methods? all are welcome! thanks

 

Take ur shocks and everything off the axle and install the shackle bolts first.. have someone help u allign the bolts starting with the front then rear then u bolts and finally shocks

 

eh I was afraid of that.... I'm not that far off, I just need a little bit to get them lined up, and I guess the u-bolts and shocks are what's limiting me, even if they are loose. thanks

any other suggestions? I plan to tackle this first thing in the morning

 

If its the bolt that runs through the shackle and spring. I ran them the opposite way they came out.

 

Yeah I have to do that, I couldn't get mine out because of the hitch and after trying unsuccessfully to get the top shackle bolt out and breaking one of the hitch bolts I just cut the bolts and ordered new ones so they're going in the opposite way. If they only would have done that from the factory would have saved a lot of trouble.

 

Sometimes I put a jack stand under the leaf and raise or lower the Jeep itself, or vice versa.

 

floor jack under the axle, bottle jack and a piece of wood between the body and the back half of the leaf to straighten it out so it reaches the shackle.

 

I put jack stands on the unibody rails, drop the axle down part way onto another pair of stands, then put a jack under the leaf spring until it all lines up. Taking the leaf springs out is a convenient time to have a friend around.

 

can you use a center punch through the opposite side, then by muscling that around, can you line it up enough to get the bolt started, then tap the bolt in with a hammer until it pushed the punch out the other side.

if that doesn't work, you'll have to unhook the shocks and u bolts to drop the axle.
just don't torque the bolts down until you have the weight sitting on the leafs.