Leaderboard

One important thing about #1 that I forgot to mention is that the rear of the chassis is also supported by jack stands. That is, you need 4 jack stands and a good floor jack to do this. In the first pic, the red jack stand set is used for supporting and pivoting the axle, but there's also a silver jack stand set (the driver's side one is just visible over the floor jack) that the truck is resting on them. Amended (clarified) instructions: 1. Lift the rear of the truck and use jack stands to support the rear chassis. There are oval-ish jack/support pads under the rear passenger doors on the unibody rail. Height of the truck depends on your jack stands...lift as high as possible, reasonable, and safe. I've used blocks to gain a few more inches to my basic 2-ton stands (it becomes especially helpful if installing lift springs and/or spacers). A proper floor jack (2.5-ton+) is capable of lifting the entire rear of the truck just by placing the jack directly under the rear diff. 2. With chassis supported, lift the rear axle and support both sides with jack stands on their highest setting. Position the jack stands under the lower spring perches, leaving enough room for your jack between the jackstand and axle end. 3. Remove the tires 4. Disconnect the shocks at the bottom, or remove them altogether. 5. Place your floor jack near the end of the axle. Lift the axle up enough to clear the jack stand, then remove the jack stand from the area. 6. Slowly lower the jack, allowing the axle to pivot on the opposite jack stand. Watch for line stretch if applicable. 7. As the end of the axle gets lower, the spring will decompress, and eventually loosen in the seat 8. When the axle is as low as reasonable, you should be able to lift the spring up to clear the lower perch, then tilt the bottom out and slide the spring down off the bump stop. (In my pic, the axle is resting on the drum, but that hasn't always been necessary if you can get the chassis supported high enough.) 9. Re-use the rubber spring pieces and install the new spring and/or spacers by reversing step #8. 10. Lift the end of the axle with the jack until axle, put the jack stand from step #5 back in place, and lower the axle onto the jack stand. 11. Repeat steps 5-10 on the other side of the axle. 12. Once both springs are in, reconnect/install the shocks, put the tires back on, and lift the truck off all 4 jack stands.