How hard is it to replace front shocks without a spring compressor?

Looking to replace front and rear shocks work Bilstein 4600's. I've watched the Team Oil Drop YouTube video on changing the front and it looks pretty easy but the comment section is filled with horror stories. Any tips before I get in there?

Pretty decent mechanic skills but I've never done shocks. On other cars I've done control arms, sway bar links, replaced components like radiators, alternators, and AC systems, etc. I'm in a 2017 SR5 V6 2WD.

 

Get a set of spring compressors from your local autozone/napa/advance auto, read the instructions and be careful using them. You'll need some method to compress the spring for reassembly.

 

Not hard at all. Loosen the lca bolts to allow for more droop. Place the frame on jack stands. Place a jack under the lca. Remove the top center bolt from the shock and lower the jack holding the lca. Reassemble using the jack to lift the lca. I've done it several times with zero issues. There's no where for anything to fly.

 

Check out this video from the Maintenance Map thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9N1fvbGAEw

 

As above, I think it’s easier without a spring compressor.

or atleast than with a cheap spring compressor.

 

And buy or borrow a 18mm ratcheting wrench for the top shock nuts, they are the devil…

 

Did mine with a floor jack and jack stands.Much easier than I expected it to be and don't see any advantage to using a spring compressor.

 

The rears are easy. do those first . Why not 5100s?
I replaced my front shocks a few months back. It's not that hard. Hit all the nuts and bolts with PB blaster a few days before.
Use Team oil drip video.
Take a photo of the tools needed, and keep your iPad in the garage to refer back to during the job. I slowed mine down to 3/4 speed.
Do the first side , have lunch, come back do the other side, then torque it all down.
You will be glad you did it yourself.
You can dooo it

 

If you are trying to compress the spring, there is the method of using the weight of the truck to compress it.

You will need some clearance, so disconnect the lca from the rotor/spindle and the sway bar. Raise a floor jack under the lca's knuckle to load the suspension. While loaded you release the nut that keeps the assembly together then slowly jack up the truck, the spring would then decompress without much effort.

Swap new spring and compress it by doing the reverse. Imo the easiest, safest and fastest way to swap springs.

 

Advantage is safety. If your jack slips off that LCA, heaven help you.

 

I've done it before removing stock shocks and installing OME Nitrochargers, fairly easy and drama-free with a hydraulic jack that can be lowered slowly. See video:



The only limitation with this method is with much stiffer/longer springs, where the truck begins to lift up before the spring is compressed sufficiently for you to install the center shaft nut.

 

Not likely to happen. It's a stable 100+ lb jack with 4000-6000lb capacity vs the forces of a single spring. The swivel plate is concave, acting on a convex feature of the LCA end forging. No riskier than using the jack for any other work on the vehicle.

Even if it does happen, the shock is still bolted to the LCA on the bottom. At the top end, the shock and spring are constrained by the UCA and knuckle, so the spring can't fly out.

 

Yes but I’d still find a way to hurt myself.

 

Aftermath of installing OME 887 coils without a spring compressor - 3 damn mosquito bites on my forearm!

 

You are right. People waste money on spring compressors. A jack is solid. No chance of it slipping out. And I mean that spring? It is only designed to support several thousand lbs. It would never take someone's face off if it got loose. Safety is for cowards.

 

This x100

just because 10 people did it “safely” with floor jacks doesn’t mean person 11 isn’t going to end up a statistic. Springs are no joke and one little slip of a jack can send you to the ER/great gig in the sky.

kinda shocking to see YouTubers encouraging using the shock mount and LCA as a spring compressor and calling it safe. Idk what their actual liability would be but I feel like they’re opening themselves up to potential lawsuits. Even if Joe YouTuber did it safely doesn’t mean the mouth breathers watching the video can. Sure some bad advice can simply lead to benign outcomes. But here? People can literally die if the jack slips and the spring goes flying, truck rolls, etc.

Also I think there’s two conversations happening in this thread. One is about swapping springs and the other is people chiming in about swapping the entire coil assembly pre configured. Two very different things.

 

I felt way more comfortable using the weight of the truck to compress the springs than using the rental spring compressor that you get from an auto parts store, I’ve done both. There’s an inherent risk you take anytime you lift a car off the ground but I’m having trouble seeing how the “spring goes flying” when the lower shock bolt is secured and the spring is caged in by the UCA and shock tower. Anything is possible though!

 

why are you underneath the truck lmao ive done the method of using the trucks weight more then i can count on my hands! it works every single time without issues.

 

I'd rather do the jack-to-LCA method over the cheap compressors any day. I just use redundant stands to hold the front of the truck and a good 3-ton jack to hold the control arm. The proper wall-mounted compressors are safest, but the LCA method is a solid alternative. Those hand-tool compressors are a time bomb waiting to kill someone.

 

yuuup i borrowed one recently do adjust the fox 2.0s for my f150 (not easy to do the lca method) and low and behond the stupid washers that help hold broke as i was tighting it down and it fell off... had to go return it back and get a different one to fix the mess up from that one