Front spring removal

[Djdawson2 at aol.com]

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I suppose if you're silly enough to remove the castle nut with no load
against the spring... you should at least be penalized the cost of one wrench.

If you,
1) loosen (but do not remove) the strut cartridge collar
2) lift the car
3) place stands under the control arms
4) lower the car onto the stands (springs are now loaded)
5) remove the wheels
6) install the small bolt style spring compressors on the spring
7) compress the spring
8) remove the upper strut mount
9) remove the strut collar completely, and the strut cartridge
10) slowly raise the car

At that point, you will find that there is sufficient room to remove the
spring.  It does work.  You must use some common sense, because you ARE
dealing with a great deal of stored energy.
HTH,
Dave