I have a buddy who put a level lift on his '07. He decided he wanted to keep the rake, but doesn't want the front to come back down, so he ordered a 2" add-a-leaf. His problem is that he can't seem to get the AAL in place and recompress the springs properly. I assembled my own leaf packs in my Explorer with no major problems (except for three wasp nests in my rear bumper) but he says his leafs are too strong to compress with any simple tools.

Can anyone who has installed an AAL please give me some pointers to pass along to my friend? I was thinking he could use C-clamps to hold the two main leafs together while the AAL is added under that, but after thinking about it, I realize the AAL may go between the two main leafs, so I'm stumped.

Any advice would be appreciated. He's having trouble justifying paying more than 1.5x the cost of the AALs to have them installed by a shop when it should be something he can do... and despite him living two hours away, I'm tempted to take it on as a personal challenge to get it done for him.

Hook us up on some tips so we can get this dude set up properly, please.

 

My buddy who install my AAL used a set of cantilever clamps. Much better holding power than your normal C clamps.