I'm trying to save some money and put on my H&R springs I just got, by myself. Has anyone done this? The only place I can find to do it is going to charge me $175 to put them on, and I'd still have to get an alignment. Is it worth the hassle of doing myself? Or should I just give up and let this place do it?

Thanks
Mike

 

its VERY easy to do! here is the rundown i found on it (i'm going to be doing it today). don't let the length fool you, it said it will be like 45 minutes for the back end for the average Joe to do it.

here ya go-

Disconnect the negative battery terminal - standard procedure for any car work.
Loosen, but do not remove lug nuts from front wheels.
Chock the rear wheels, and raise the front of the car just high enough to remove the wheels. Support the car on jackstands!
Remove the wheels, and set aside.
Raise the hood.
Remove the two nuts retaining the master cylinder to the brake booster. Position the master cylinder up and out of the way. You don't need to remove the brake lines, but be careful not to kink them in the process.
The following instructions pertain to both sides.
Remove the cotter pin from the upper control arm ball joint. Remove the ball joint retaining nut.
Using a hammer or mallet, tap the ball joint stud to separate the upper control arm from the spindle. Unbolt the sway bar.
Under the hood, remove the two nuts and two bolts retaining the shock assembly to the shock tower.
Remove the two bolts retaining the shock to the lower control arm. Don't worry, at this point the shock is fully extended and poses no danger to you.
Remove the shock assembly from the vehicle.
Remove the upper control arm from the shock assembly. It simply slides off the bolts.
Install the spring compressors, and compress until the spring unseats from its perches.
Remove the retaining nut from the top of the shock absorber, holding the end of the shaft with a Crescent™ wrench.
Note: If the nut is severely rusted and you are unable to remove it, you can guide a hacksaw between the spring coils, next to the dust sleeve and cut the end of the shaft. The shaft is not hardened metal, and will cut easily. This will obviously destroy the shock, but you may then easily continue with your install provided you have replacement shocks.
Separate the pieces of the shock assembly.
Release the spring compressors from the spring, alternating with no more than 2 turns per side.
Assembly is the reverse of the installation.

rear springs- Disconnect the negative battery terminal - standard procedure for any car work.
Fold down the rear seat.
Inside the car, remove the spare tire cover and it's match on the driver side. The driver side panel simply pulls loose, being retained by nylon trim pins.
Pull back the carpet until you locate foam wedges covering the shock shafts.
Remove the shock retaining nuts, holding the shock shaft with a Crescent™ wrench.
Remove associated hardware and set aside.
Loosen, but do not remove lug nuts from rear wheels.
Chock the front wheels, and raise the rear of the car high enough to slide underneath the car comfortably. Support the car on jackstands!
Place the jack under the differential, but do not raise at this point.
Remove the wheels, and set aside.
Under the car, remove the shock retaining nuts
Remove shock absorbers from car.
Remove springs simply by grabbing them and lifting them off the lower perches. The spring will be fully off the top perch and fully extended.
Assembly is the reverse of the installation. Use the jack to lift the axle when reinstalling the shocks.
Hint: When reassembling, make sure the shock shaft is centered in the hole. If permitted to touch the sides of the body panel it penetrates, you will have an aweful non-stop squeak.

 

I did this mod a couple years ago on my v6. Went very well. At the same time I did brakes, calipers, tie rods, ball joints, clean up some other parts, sway bar bushings and pretty much everything else attached to hte front end along with shocks and struts. Took about a day and a half (not working the whole time, but between parts runs and many breaks and eating and other stuffs). I worked from a haynes manual and got the spring compressor from autozone so that I didnt have to buy it. I cant remember any other special parts otehr than a pickle fork for separating tie rod ends and a ball joint press to remove and intall joints but you can get both from autozone for rent.
Only thing I can remeber that was a helpful hint was to use a sharpie marker and mark where the ends of the tie rods were. That way when you put it back together it was roughly straight enough to get to the shop for alignment (mine came out so straight you couldnt even tell it needed it).
Good luck, save the money its definaetly worth it and can be done in several hours by a shade tree mechanic.

Rechtien

 

i just did the back end using jack, a tire jack (the factory one) to lift the car up, and a socket set using 1 socket for 2 bolts(the shocks so it would lower down more).... thats all i needed to take em out

just hafta use some a$$ to get the factory springs out