[Brad54]

I have one of the internal compressors shown, and another with the fingers on one end, and at the nut-end there's a Y-shaped plate that slips past the shaft with the fingers grabbing the spring on one side, and the tail grabs it on the other side.

I've found that you will sometimes run out of room, as the shaft will bottom-out in the top of the spring pocket, before the spring is compressed enough to come out. It's that way on my '56 and '57 Chevy, a couple of Novas/Camaros I've worked on, and my '54 Buick. The fix is to take a 2-inch length of black pipe and install it between the adjuster nut and the lower set of fingers, taking up the "slack" or excess length of the shaft.

I absolutely think you need these compressors to get the fronts out.

for the rear, they aren't captured in a top and bottom pocket, and they aren't under compression like the fronts are. On the front, the lower control arm never fully lowers, taking away the compression.

Out back, you can jack up the back of the truck until the rear wheels are just barely off the ground, and the springs are fully uncompressed--they're under no pressure and have no stored energy. At that point you can safely unbolt them and pull them away.

-Brad