Ok, here is how its done without the truck together.
I did this with a 76 Camaro subframe completely out of the vehicle- up on Saw-horses.
1. You need two 1/4" plates with a 13/16" hole in each of them, then get a length of 3/4" all-thread about 14" long.
2. Put a plate on the top and one on the bottom of the spring, run the all-thread through the Top Plate, spring, and bottom plate.
3. Put a nut and washer on each end and tighten it till the spring is compressed about 1/2" tighter than is needed for your install.
4. Wire (heavy guage wire) in multiple wraps with separate strands through the coils to hold the spring compressed (make sure this is done is separate wraps in various locations around the spring- don't want this to pop!!
5. Put the spring, wired up, into your subframe, close that arms up, connect all arms and spindles tight.
6. Use long wire nippers to snip the wires, the spring should only pop 1/2" to 1/4" into the lower and upper arms. If your spring was not compressed enough, use the plates above the upper arm and lower arm to compress further till you get it in place to connect your spindle and tighten it up.
This was done after doing just as you said, ruining paint on everything, ruining spring compressors and all. Those spring compressors SUCK!!!
Anyway, hope this helps- worked great for me.
