After fighting with the retaining clips for WAY too long during my suspension rebuild, I ended up carefully uncoiling the clip somewhat and slipping one end of the clip over the boot into the recessed area. I squeezed and pushed on the boot to reduce the effective diameter as I slipped the clip little by little around the boot and into the recess. I also used a little Armor All on the outside of the boot to make it slick so the clip would more easily slip around the boot. I don't know of a better way to describe the method I used.
Good luck.
Ron
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