Torquing Suspension Under Load

If the car is on jackstands, you can use a floor jack (with a wood block to protect things) to raise the outer end of the lower control arm (one at a time) with the wheel off into its near-operating position and then do up the bolts+nuts (of course, you have to be careful not to tip/topple the whole thing over ). Or, if Edd China had a car up on the ramp with the wheels off, he'd use a transmission jack to do the same thing.

 

You can also torque the bolts through the bushings to the forks on the lower control arms on a bench before they are installed. I torqued the uppers with the control arm level with the floor before I connected the lower end of the shock and the hub. You will need to pull down on the lowers to connect everything but it will already be torqued and preloaded in the right direction.

Basically... install the control arms parallel to the floor and torque them in on the frame side and then install the hub at the ball joints. You have to pull up and down on the lower one to hook up the shock and the ball joint but you wont knock your car off the stands.