OK - I am finally done! Got the car aligned on Friday and it runs great. Here is what I did...

I had absolutely no trouble removing the springs with just a jack under the LCA. I jacked the car up pretty high on the side I was working on and put a jackstand under the frame (added an additional one for backup)...I then put my floor jack under the LCA and raised it slightly to remove the eccentric bolts - then, hiding behind the tire (!) I slowly lowered the LCA until the spring just fell out - with no tension. No problems.

But, the reinstall was a slightly different story...I tried to position the jack and raise it slowly, but I just got too nervous. The jack started sliding around and I just couldn't get it to go up comfortably. So, I went to Lowes and bought a 5/8", 2 ft. all-thread and a 1/4" steel plate - drilled a hole in the plate and ran the rod up thru the spring. I put the steel plate on top of the perch and attached a washer and nut and ran the other end thru the hole in LCA and attached it with several washers and a nut. Then, using my floor jack and the also turning the nut on the all-thread at the LCA - I slowly raised the arm and got everything into place. MUCH SAFER!

I know what you're thinking - how did I get the 2 ft rod out of there? Well, I had already cut it down to about 20" (these springs are about 18"), but there was no way I had the car jacked up that high to clear the garage floor - so I took my SawZall (sp?) and just cut the rod. The rods were only $5, maybe, so, well worth it to me. I swear the second side took me 1/10 of the time as the first side - from start to finish. I changed the motor mounts (both sides were very easy with the car jacked up and tires off), front subframe mounts, LCA bushings, and the lower ball joints.

My thanks to all who offered some help - especially deltacom in the private communication. Hope this helps someone else.

Ryan

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RG Newell

1984 300D
1972 250
1986 560SL
1991 300CE