Has anyone tried to put a spring compressor on while the shock is still mounted to avoid taking all that stuff apart to install a leveling kit?

 

It's at least somewhat possible, but I don't know that you're going to get enough room to actually put in a leveling kit.

I did it to get a pair of SuperSpring helpers installed (they're a dense foam that slides into the coils) because I otherwise didn't have enough clearance at full droop, and even with my (admittedly low-end) compressors as tight as I was comfortable taking them, I still only freed up a little room within the coil spring, I didn't have things free-floating. YMMV with a better spring compressor, of course, but I think at the end of the day you're going to find it easier to take things apart than to screw around with trying to make room in situ.

 

Seems to me that the risks of having a spring compressor fail on the truck would outweigh the effort of taking everything apart. If something slipped or came apart while you had the springs compressed on the truck, it's going to get expensive...

 

Even if you could do it...you’re not going to compress the spring enough to get a lift puck in place. Do it the right way...this just has disaster written all over it.

 

There's really not a lot that has to be taken apart, I put mine on yesterday, and it took me about 3 hours total. Its sounds a lot more tedious than it really is.