if you remove the stock shocks/coils and brought them into a shop with the new shocks, hey should be able to swap them over for you in a matter of minutes per assembly. i would say that you would have to pay for the minimum of 1 hour labor.

but, if you decide to do them yourself, you will need some HEAVY DUTY coil spring compressors..... but be careful, there is a reason they call them "widow makers". the stock springs are rather stiff. and, if you go with the 2" setting, you will have to compress it even more to get it assembled.

 

Like I said, I've had both and liked them both...you can't go wrong here!! As far as the install, mattd17 is absolutely correct, and I've posted about this several times; you can do this installation yourself, but if you have limited experience working with springs, your best off bringing the OEM spring/shock assembly along with the new front Bilsteins to a shop and have them swap the springs for you. Be sure you/they move the lower shock mount to the correct 2" setting before assembly. Once done, you should be able to put it all back together.

From a previous post:
* I recommend air tools, or GOOD hammer gun - prior to buying air tools, I bought a Craftsman electric (plug-in) 1/2" hammering gun. It was great but large and hefty.
* Hydraulic floor jack, not a POS scissor or bottle jack, a REAL floor jack. You need this to not only lift the truck, but also to compress the lower control arm so you can start unbuttoning the whole mess.
* BIG hammer

Ease:
Hard to say how easy but I always worry about guys attempting to work on front ends because of the tension the springs place on the knuckle and control arms.
In a nutshell: Using your floor jack, jack up the front end and support it with jack stands; you'll need your floor to jack up the lower control arm shortly, plus this just the safe way to work on your truck! You need to remove your tire, rotor and brake caliper. I suggest using wire hanger or strap to prevent the caliper from free hanging by the brake hose.

Next move the floor jack to one side and slightly jack the LCA. Unbutton the sway bar link and steering link. A couple light taps on the steering ball joint will unseat it.

With the jack still supporting the LCA and undo the nut from the upper ball joint but do not remove it. Un-thread it until there is a small gap between the nut and the underside of the knuckle (where the nut was once tightened...be sure there's plenty of thread for the nut to hold on to). Release the jack which will allow the spring tension to push up on the UCA. Take your big hammer and start pounding the vertical portion of the knuckle but NOT the BJ and NOT the UCA. The vibration from the pounding plus the tension of the spring will eventually bust the BJ loose from the tapered fitting in the knuckle. The threaded nut will prevent the whole thing from flying apart (this is the dangerous part of the whole deal). Once it has broken loose, jack the LCA to release the tension and remove nut. Slowly lower the jack until the spring tension has been released and now you can start removing stuff.
I've used this method on every vehicle I owned and on average, it takes about 4 to 5 good pounds of the hammer to release everthing. I have NEVER used a BJ pickle fork as they tend to ruin the BJ boot. You don't need to undo the lower ball joint. Keep the jack under the control arm to support it.

Undo the three nuts at the top of the shock mount. Once unbuttoned, slowly release your floor jack to take all of the remaining tension out of the spring. Next, remove the huge nut holding the lower shock. You should be able to pop out the spring/shock at this point.

Good luck and be careful.

 

I didn't have to do any of that, I just un bolted the tie rod and moved the spindles out of the way and could get it in and out that way.

 

Wow that seems like quite the task. I will definately need some help with that or I might have to reconsider doing it myself.

 

Honestly its not that bad. This was my first time doing suspension work and other than stubborn bolts I didn't have any problems. I would recommend getting a shop to swap out the shocks in the coils for you though, makes life 10x easier.

 

How can you get the shock out of the pocket without removing the UCA from the knuckle?

 

I just pulled it out. Took some aggressive wiggling but it came out just fine.