Hope it didnt matter about having both out cuz I had all four out, the two from the donaor car and the two from the car they were going into.
I got the two donors back in to the keeper car. I taped it a bit with a wood block and the passenger side went in fine. Tried the drivers side and it was a bit more stuborn. I ended up putting a little tear in the boot right on the edge of the boot near the clamp. I am thinking of just putting some RTV on it since it wont be flexing much unless there are easy to install replacement boots that you dont have to take off the axle (remeber the old VW boots that had bolts on em). Anyway No way am I going to take it out to replace the boot.
I still have the two wornout ones to put back in but all they have to do is just stay in long enough for the tow truck to pull it away so Im not too worried about them, heck I'll even put them in with no clip if need be.
BTW, I did try to get new clips at the local NAPA. I got the look like I was from mars. Tried the ford dealer and guess what, obsolete... Guess its a good thing they didnt get to bent up comming out. They did get mared up a little with nicks in them matching the spline but I'm hoping it wont matter much.
Seems like most posts seem to have trouble getting them out like I did, makes me feel a bit better, thought it was just me. I bent the crowbar and pry bar getting them out. Being close to the gravel didnt help much either, the angles to go at it were quite limited.
Again, thanks all for all the advice (and pics!). It did help a lot. Dont know that I'd want to do this 12 or 13 times! I think twice (donor and keeper car) is enough.
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Hey I will have to post a copuple pics of what I found on the high mileage car when I did get the suspension all apart. (i swaped hubs/rotors/bearings and all since all were ok). The spring was snaped in two near the top coil on one side (hidden from sight untill removed) and the rotor has a nice big radial crack in it. It was an original rotor (250,000 miles) never been off the car or turned. Got the moneys worth out a that one!
Changed out tie rod ends and ball joints too(well one ball joint -wanted to to do the other but couldnt). and swaped out the shocks too (they were also OEM 250,000 miles). The donor car gives up parts easty but the keeper car fights like heck, everything seems to have rusted in place by the time it got to 250k.
Tomorrow its fight the gas tank day, it started leaking while all this was going on. Grrrrrr