Replacing shocks and struts

[shields@tembel.org (Michael Shields)]

I'm assembling parts and tools to change the shocks and struts on my
'86 Coupe GT.  I've been mentally going over what needs to be done,
comparing Bentley with the car with the archives.

On the front (standard 4000 series suspension), I think it goes like this:

1. Loosen axle nut, jack up car, and remove wheel and axle nut.  The axle
nut needs to be replaced.

2. Unbolt brake caliper and move aside.  Remove brake disc.

3. Remove wheel bearing housing/ball joint clamp bolt.  I think this
nut is self-locking also.

4. Press off tie rod end with tie rod presser tool.

5. Remove link rod nut -- another nut that needs replacement.

6. Pry down control arm to pop out ball joint.  I gather from looking
at the big U-shaped wedges sold as ball joint tools that this takes a
good bit of force.

7. Pull out driveshaft with driveshaft puller tool.  You now need to
replace the inner CV joint gasket.

8. Remove upper shock absorber nut.  This is the one which has a hex-head
recess in the center, which you need to hold steady with an allen wrench
while turning the larger hex nut.  Bentley shows a special tool (3078)
to do this.  Haynes says a "peg spanner" can be used instead; I don't
know what they call that in the US.

9. At this point the whole strut assembly comes off, if I understand the
suspension -- everything from wheel bearing housing to strut bearing,
intact.  No spring compressors are involved yet, right?  The spring is
prevented from expanding by the inner nut I was holding with the allen
key, and not by the one I removed in step 8?

10. So it's off the car.  I fit spring compressors on the spring and 
compress it until it's no longer exerting tension.  I then remove the
nut that holds it together and can disassemble the entire thing and put
it back together with new parts.

11. And assembly is the reverse, with new nuts and gaskets and Loctite
in the appropriate places.  Anything special about getting the driveshaft
back in the hub, or the ball joint back in the wheel bearing housing?

So the tools involved, apart from sockets and such, are a spring
compressor, a tie rod press, a driveshaft puller, and a 3078.
I'm not sure where to get these, or what I might substitute for a 3078.
J.C. Whitney has spring compressors and tie rod presses, but I'm reluctant
to order from the land of $7.99 torque wrenches.  Where do I get these
tools?

The rear looks to be much easier, since it's not a driven axle --
basically, remove the upper bolt and jack up the body, and the spring will
reach maximum expansion and the shock should just fall out.  Unbolt the
lower side, reassemble it all, and you're done.  It looks like there
are no spring compressors, no parts to replace for better handling,
not even any self-locking nuts.

Oh, which locking compound is locking compound D6?
-- 
Shields.