A few other considerations for someone who does not own a jack and stands...
Do you own:
1. Torque wrench? For proper and safe installation... 2. A torch, or plasma cutter, or angle grinder, or cut-off wheel, or other method of cutting off the fasteners that don't come off voluntarily? (Success of bolt removal will vary by the amount of rust on the car)
As for how-to...it's pretty common sense for many if you look at it...and not for others. Service manual could be a valuable reference depending on your capabilities. But it's far from brain surgery for a mechanically inclined person...support everything, remove bolts, remove spring, reverse. Do one complete side at a time.
Now if it were me? I'd take the opportunity to pull the whole axle out of the car, replace U-joints, brake lines, clean & paint it...the BEST time to do all this is when replacing springs. But like everything else on these cars, a simple project often ballons.
In 2001 I set out to replace my rear leaf springs on my 1968. It led to a full frame rail and floor replacement project...essentially a rotisserie restoration without the rotisserie...all done on jackstands. This was not planned. It all started after a struggle with those dang cage nuts mentioned in the post before mine. But upon getting them torched out and removing the spring pockets I realized how bad the rest of the car was, and at that moment decided to just handle it all...took me over a decade in my spare time (cuz I burned out and let it sit for several years) before the car was driven under its own power again...I finally actually installed the springs I set out to replace in 2001...but not until 2012.
Yet others will just replace the springs and call it done. Every car and every person is different...
