shocks are easy to do. if you are gonna do em i would suggest spending a bit more on terra firma shocks. if you are gonna do the 2 hours of labor i would only wanna do it once over the next 60-75k miles. and when/if you have the cash you can change the springs to something better.

i did the OME 2" lift in the garage with hand tools, stands and the stock bottle jack. once on jacks you use the bottle jack in between the diff tube and chassis to spread them apart and drop out the springs. its so easy its kinda scary.

steering stabilizer is a 5 min job.

good luck

 

Hey Spike was that Gabrial number for a D1 or D2 and what about the rears. I'm getting ready to put on low milage 03 stock springs on my 02 and want to do shocks also.

 

I just did the suspension on our '99 with ACE & SLS, my wife's ride, and she didn't want to hear the word lift. So I went the route that it sounds like you'd like to go - standard height and ride and cheap for now. (I'm assuming the DII will become mine in a couple of years and I plan to do a 2" lift kit then)

The route I took was the cheap bastard route and got All Makes shocks and springs at $37/ea from Lucky8. They are a euro brand, he doesn't advertise selling these, and some would give him flack for even doing so, but it fit my situation perfectly. So far, so good. Install was easy even for me having never done ANY suspension before.

I "believe" the only difference in shocks for systems with ACE/SLS is shock length...others have went to standard size like me without problems, so I just went with it. I do plan to convert to springs rather soon because of another leak after replacing the bags! So if anyone wants some like new Arnott lifetime warrenty bags, hit me up!

 

Again, I don't work for these guys, just giving you options. However, I am really pleased with my Terra Firma shocks and springs. They make a stock height kit, you may have to call Justin at Lucky 8 to get it ordered, but it is available. My whole kit was 450 delivered. So you may want to look that route. My springs were BADLY sagging and my shocks had no rebound left in them when I did mine. I could compress them by hand, and they stayed in that position!
In terms of work, Lucky 8 posted a nut by nut video that will explain how to do it. I found that extremely easy to follow and that gave me the confidence to pony up to the job myself. After I go the tires I got an alignment and she is totally good to go.

 

+1 to what's been said above about the TerraFirma kits. I installed the 3" lift on my '99 D2 last weekend. It took a lot longer than I expected...5 1/2 hours, but it rides and handles great.

 

Those that I linked to are for a DI.
Yes I did all four at the same time and I used the same brand.
$110 out the door at that time.

 

Looks like I could get the Monroe for around $160 out the door for all corners. I might check into the Bilstein as I'm a fan of those, but also the kits too (non-lift). I need to check the springs out, but I think they are alright.

 

Not bad! Where from? I figure with over 100k its worth to do the springs as well at once.

Tristate install meet!

 

Advance Auto. There are coupon codes all over for $30 off $100 and so on, so easy to get the price down a bit!
Just got back from a trip to Mexico and hoping to look into this more now!

 

Just to add to the post, Should the springs be changed at the same time as the shocks are do they last longer? 100k originals in my case.