How hard to remove OEM bump stops?

I have a 2003 Tacoma 4wd 4door w 124k miles. It's a daily driver but I also use for backcountry travel and camping road trips. I have an ARE shell on and often load up with at least 250+ pounds of camping gear. That combo sags the elderly rear suspension a bit. It's tolerable on short trips but I'd like to add some extra support for longer drives.

I'm not planning to keep this truck long enough to make a full suspension upgrade worth it so I'm looking at the Timbren suspension package to help level the truck under load for a 2 week trip coming up in July.

The OEM bumpstops of my Taco are mounted to the axle under the U bolts (instead of mounted to the frame from above). This means in order to remove the OEM stop I need to loosen up the U bolts enough to lift out the bump stop. I'm relatively mechanically inclined but usually stay away from suspension work because of the weight and loads involved.

So, my question is this, how difficult or dangerous is it to remove that bump stop? All I have for setting up the truck for work is a pair of heavy duty jack stands, a bottle jack, and a med duty hydraulic jack (also a Hi Lift but not going to use that for this).

 

Sounds like the same as my 2nd Gen. Just need some Wd-40 and wrenches. Start spraying them down about a week before. I have had good luck with Timbrens. Amazon Prime has been the cheapest, for me.

 

It seems simple, but I'm not sure if I should support the truck from the axle or the frame? It seems like I would lift the truck to remove tires, support from under axle (so it won't drop with U bolts loose), loosen U bolts and remove the OEM stop, replace with new plate from kit and re tighten to spec. Will I need to fully remove the U bolts to get the stop out or will it wiggle free once loose?

What I don't want is to get myself into a situation where I've loosened something up that can't be realigned properly to get back into place and bolted back down without a bunch of extra jacks and stands. I'm assuming the truck will just sit on the axle even if the U bolts are out and nothing will move.