Okay, here we go again: I'm lifting an 89 XJ with a 4.5" Rubicon Express lift, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the damn spring compressor I rented inside the coil!?!?! Any tips or suggestions? We got the old coils off be dropping the lower control arms but the new coils are so much bigger I don't see how we're going to get them in without compressing them! I welcome all suggestions and a small amount of newbie bashing!!

All I want to do is wheel the damn thing!!

You need to go rent external spring compressors.

Either that or force the diff way down on one side and jack up the other side. I got my 4.5" coild in w/o having to use a compressor.

If you have to you can just unhook all 4 arms and then have the sheer joy of hooking them back up with the springs in the vehicle. YAY!

I did my tj with out using a compres, just had to take off the track bar and and push the axle down as far as it would to and jam the sping in there.

Now we've got the springs in, but the passenger side lower control arm isn't going back in!! The axle seems to have shifted back about an inch. Here's the plan, tell me quick if it sounds too stupid! We're going to put the front tires on, and reverse ever-so-slowly and hope it puts the axle in the right place! Any thoughts on this in like the next 5 minutes would help and might save some lives!

DO NOT DO THAT!!!!!! You can use a come-along to pull the axle in the direction you need to line up the LCA bolt holes....if you don't have a come-along, use a friend and a tow strap.

Originally posted by Billy Badass:
<STRONG>DO NOT DO THAT!!!!!! You can use a come-along to pull the axle in the direction you need to line up the LCA bolt holes....if you don't have a come-along, use a friend and a tow strap.</STRONG>

or a highlift jack (you MUST have one of those if you plan on fourwheeling!) to push it in place, or hilift jack + chain to pull it into place.

ratchet straps also work good for coil compressors

you should be able to jack up the front end and muscle the axle around.

Also, you can try lettin everyting down off the lift or jacks or whatever your using, and then bounce the suspension up and down a bit. The springs will settle in a little bit and hopefully you can connect it then.

When you say reconnecting, does that mean that you are using stock control arms for 4.5" lift?

Put yer floor jack unner de punkin' an take de jak stans outa der. Den wiggle it... jus a little bit... naw, do it a whole lot. Jack it up and down till yer centered. Got it? Greddy

I put that kit on a Cherokee a couple years ago. Come-along and ratchet straps and a jack - just force stuf around until you can pound the bolt through.