I did manage to get one on finally.
The freakin spring compressors I got from advanced are crap. The heads are 2 x 1.5 x 1.5 cast steel. It makes they a complete PITA to work with on install/uninstall.
I eneded up clamping the lower part of the spring and manually cramming its ass into the wheel well.
And to get the strut onto the knuckle:
I opened the knuckle slightly wider with a crow bar.
Then, I took our old floor jack and the emergency spare jack from the trunk. I had the old jack with a wooden block under c-clamp of the knuckle, and I placed the floor jack under the drum. I just raised each side until it pressed in from the strenght of the strut/spring. I did have the bolts in on the top of the strut so It was semi-safe/semi death trap.
But in the end its on the car. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow for when I do the other side. It was ALOT harder then I thought it was going to be. And this seems to not be a project for anyone with weak arms/bad back. The assembly with my clamps probably weights ~25-30lbs. So just holding it there for a while trying to jam it in is energy consuming. Especially since I took me something near 4 hours...
I'll probably get the next one on in 30 to 40 minutes now.
