I went to home depot, they have 2x4s precut to 2ft and it worked fine. 2 bucks.
Honestly only the passenger side (first side I did) was a PITA. Once I got the technique figured out, the other side was pretty easy.
Just want to say thanks for this thread. I'm a shade tree mechanic, and with this info and a 2x4 was able to get my springs installed with relatively no fuss.