Make sure to use something to support the hub before moving the shock.
View attachment 6483
The hub will fall away from the van and you will risk damaging the brake line.
I eventually replace the jackstand with a hydraulic floor jack. I really needed to adjust the hub up and down to mount the Koni. The jackstand couldn't do that.
Dust boot removed from the oem shock and compared with the Koni.
View attachment 6484
The oem shock seems to act like a spring/damper (shaft wants to pop back out when I attempt to compress it) while the Koni acts like a damper (shaft stays put at whatever position I compress/extend the shaft to).
8mm Allen wrench was used to turn the shock to max. Shaft needs to be pushed all the way in and then turned clockwise (looking from the shaft end).
View attachment 6485
You don't really need the 8mm Allen wrench to adjust it. It just makes it easier.
OEM dust boot on the Koni
View attachment 6486
I used the oem nut to hold the rubber mount while I extended the shaft. You don't have to do this. If the shaft is already extended, you could probably just slip the dust boot on and fish it through the mount.
Since I was the only working on this I had to slip the shaft through the top and rest the bottom on the hub.
View attachment 6487
This way I could go back into the cab and slip on the nut. Notice that the dust sleeve can be separated from the rubber mount.
The top nut on the shock was just spun on loosely. The bottom four bolts were bolted on snuggly. I mounted the tire and lowered the van.
For only the front shocks, tightening the four bolts and the top nut is done with the weight of the vehicle on the shock. I torque the four bolts to 136ft-lbs and used the impact wrench to snug the nut on top. I went on to use an open-end 24mm wrench and an 8mm Allen wrench to tighten it.
You would think replacing some shocks would be easy. It is, but for some reason it was taking me forever on the front driver side (first side to work on). I bolted the bottom of the shock to the hub first and then attempted to mount the top numerous times before I decided to do the top first. I think I wasted an hour trying to do this.
So if you want to have an easier time, attach the top first and then attach the bottom to the hub.
Or heck, just do the bottom first and have fun with it. I'm sure I was doing something wrong.