Adjusting Bilsteins while on the truck?

Is there a clever way to move the spring seat up or down, or does the coilover need to come off to do such things?

I was hoping a spring compressor might hold the spring temporarily, but I have not tried it.

Thoughts?

 

Getting a spring compressor onto the coil while it's on the truck will probably be impossible. However, you can supposedly still safely decompress the coil while on the truck this way:

1) Support the lower control arm with a floor jack, raise the suspension just a little to be sure of this, and remove the bolts securing the LCA to the steering knuckle. (NOT the castle nut.)

2) Mark the alignment of the LCA bolts with a Sharpie and loosen them. (Don't remove them.) Sway bar may also need to be removed from the end.

3) Remove the center nut on the strut's rod.

The spring can't come flying out and kill you because the bottom of the strut isn't going anywhere (still bolted in) and because the top hat isn't going anywhere (3 bolts still left in).

4) Lower the jack. The spring will decompress and by the time the strut rod comes down through the top hat the spring tension will be gone.

There are a couple Gen 2 videos online, but in the comments people have said it works on Gen 1 also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6u7dC7EHg (see also Part 2)
one more, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkVLBOnAifc

 

However you decide, the coil has to be de compressed before any kind of adjustment of clip is done...

 

My only thought is to jack under the LCA to fully compress the spring then wrap 1-2 hundred zip ties around it so it stays compressed. Then jack up the frame somewhere so the shock decompresses all the way and maybe you'll have enough room to adjust the clip. I'm 60% joking.

 

If ya have a good jack & some mech. skill you can do struts without the compressor, done this a few times