Ok, so I decided to start with the rear suspension install thinking this would be the easier part. And, truth be told, it was ok (minus the fact that I am currently stuck half way). The first challenge was replacing the springs. Again, the 600lb continuous weight springs are tough - no wiggle room using my muscle power, whatsoever. Plus they are relatively heavy. The key to surviving this was unbolting everything from the rear axle to allow it to drop as much as possible.
So I started by loosening the KDSS valves 2.5 turns (because everybody on the interwebs says to do this, and therefore must be the right thing to do). Then I lifted the rear by placing a floor jack under the axle - until wheels were about 8" off the ground. After placing a jack stand under the frame immediately in front of the rear linkage bracket, I lowered using the floor jack so she was resting on the jack stands. Then, couple of inches back up on the floor jack to make sure the axle was supported. So far so good.
Next I started to unbolt the main things that would prevent the axle from dropping, starting with the lower shock bolts, then followed by the driver's side sway bar linkage nut, then the passenger side sway bar linkage top nut (one with thick rubber washers under it). After wiggling the drivers side linkage, it came apart with no issues. Then I unbolted the upper part of the diff breather hose, and all of the brake line bracket and other attachment bolts - there's a handful of them along the entire axle. Lastly I undid the huge 24mm pan hard rod bolt that attaches to the axle and pried off the knuckle - fortunately not my knuckle, the pan hard's knuckle. With all this done, I began to lower the axle. Note, that skipping the pan hard step will not get you low enough, so no point in trying to take any shortcuts. Also, a Milwaukee M18 cordless impact wrench will make easy work out of all of this.
With all this unbolting and unnutting (new word), and with the help of my wife's foot pushing down on each hub, I was able to relatively easily remove and (more importantly) fit the new springs (with airbags in them) onto the axle, and twist them into the right position. You will be able to feel as you twist them where they naturally want to sit, but take note the position when removing the originals to give you a ballpark. So here are some pics with figure headings below each one:
Figure 1. Rear spring beefiness comparison. Ironman 600 lb constant load springs (yellow - 100% bison meat), Dobinsons lower weight springs (blue - 100% beef ), and original springs (black - beyond beef).
Figure 2. Rear spring assembly with airbag inserted. Reusing the top cone-shaped rubber thingy, but cut off three levels from it using a reciprocal saw. Lit it up with rubber smoke like an Overlander's meet n' greet at the local Starbucks. Airbags are there in case I need to hitch a train car to the receiver.
Figure 3. Jack stand and floor jack setup. No other jacks or animals were injured in the production of this build (yet).
Figure 4. Springs installed. If you look carefully you can see the brake lines detached (not the yellow cable).
Figure 5. Afterwards, reattaching the pan hard rod was a PITA. Fortunately I discovered the only posting on the entire interweb (dating back to 1992) that illustrates how to use a ratchet strap to pull the pan hard rod back into place. For everyone else, this is just intuitive, common knowledge so I will keep with tradition and refuse to show you how to do it here.
EDIT: After getting the panhard bar back in place, the axle is off by roughly an inch. So I am going to get an adjustable one from ironman. They claim theirs can be adjusted while on the vehicle which is a nice feature.
To be continued...
Do any of you happen to know, or can please send me a snapshot of where the upper bracket attaches?
