i've done all the wrenching myself and i can tell you, except for recently, i've never done the cycle on jack stands. it's all been real world experience because what you see in your driveway undoubtedly won't be the same out in the field.

i used coil retainers front and rear, bottom and top, but ideally, limit straps would have been more ideal. to match the shocks i switched from linear coils to dual rate and since then i have successfully been able to remove the coil retainers.

 

Synergy is also dual rate coils front and rear.