1. Try to get the lower shock bracket and shock at the correct angle at the bench prior to inserting it into the spring coil. I did this by snugging the nut up with the shock in approximate position, taking the assembly to the truck moving the shock into perfect angle. Then I placed the shock bracket into the D ring of my back bumper and torqued it to 300 ft-lb. I made sure that the wrench would be tightening on a downward motion, so the shock bracket would be wedged against the D-ring and lower bumper.

2. Use a second bottle jack to slightly raise or lower the A-arm to get the top bolt hole of the upper bracket and shock into perfect position. The truck was already jacked up and held with jackstands.

3. I found that Oxy-acetylene heating of the lower shock bolt was necessary to loosen it up. It took under 1 minute on only the nut.

4. I presoaked the lower bolts with WD-40. I found that a fence post that was 8 feet long was needed to allow my 3/4 drive to break the lower bolts loose. After that, my IR pneumatic wrench did the rest of the work. The job goes much faster if you replace these bolts with new ones.

5. The rear shocks require the wheels to be removed.

It took 6 hours to do all four shocks. I am very sore.

Gilbert H.