ok, I just got the Bilsteins and the 2" shackles put on today. It only take a couple of hours, by myself. I used alot of everyone's suggestions too.
I left the wheels on and only used my stock scissor jack with my Civic's scissor jack to spread the leaf springs a little. I too, had to trim alittle of the upper bushing and grease it a little to get the shackle on.
A ratchet tie-down would be a good idea to use if anyone needs to pull the leafs together a little after taking the stock shackles off. I did have the leafs spread outward on me a little at that time. My only ratchet tie-down was in use on the roof and I couldn't get to it, so I had to use some brute strength. (Although, not a good idea in some cases when a heavy vehicle is jacked up and could possibly come tumbling down on you or someone else.)
And of course the Bilstein's were a 10-15 minute job as Gothamist said. Thanks!
But now to the geometry part of this MOD. I must be missing something here, being that I'm not as experienced as the fellas down at SLR, or anywhere, as far as that goes. Anyway, before I got the shackles, I was wondering how it would lift the X 2"'s. At the rear of the leaf spring is where the shackkle goes which would lift it 2"'s there, but it should only add 1" [or a little less] at the hub/axle or the center of the tire/wheel, since the front of the leaf is the pivot point.
So, IF, and that's a big IF, since I'm not totally sure of all this (and some of you are gonna help straighten this out [or agree]) all of that is true, then the fact of needing the new longer Bilsteins is not exactly neccesary. At least not neccessary for the driver side.
Being that the driver side shock's lower point of contact is in front of the axle and the shock is angled up "FWD", (away from the 2" lift at the rear of the leaf) then a @' longer shock isn't needed. By overegsagerating the shock angle and almost angling it totally forward [near the front point of contact of the leaf] that would prove that NO longer shock would be needed, even if you lifted the rear of the leaf 5 feet. Does that make sense?
However, the passenger side does need the longer shocks, b'cuz it is angled back. I noticed this while putting the shocks on after I did the shackles. The driver's side needed to be jacked up and a little depressing of the shock [about an inch] to fit. The passenger side only needed a little depressing of the shock because it's two shock's point of contact was actually 2"'s farther apart. [Well, actually, a little less than 2] But the driver side would be shorter than 1" longer.
Now, by all means, please !!!!!! Don't anyone take this as a complaint or negativity. I love what it did for the X and I can't wait to do a little torsion bar lift up front to level it off some. It is definately a positive thing for me, but I just wanted to get this geometry/angle thing cleared up. Can somebady verify or fix it? And my "1in." and "2in." measurements aren't exact! If I say the axle is at a 1" lift, I'm just using it as a number for 1/2 of the total 2" at the rear leaf point. If the shackle is 10", then the 1/2 measure would be 5". All I'm saying is don't go out and measure anything. I don't even know if the shackles are a true 2" lift, it could be 2 1/2". But my general points should be <, >, 2".
Do I have everyone confused yet? :') Sorry, if I do!! :'(
Help!!!!!!!!