In a driving rainstorm, the wife hit a pothole. The car ahead of her lost a hubcap, the car behind her subsequently pulled over. It was a pretty deep pothole. Subcompacts or anything smaller probably would have showed up in Beijing.

After she got home, I took a look. It looked to me like the car was sitting a little low in the right front. I pulled the wheel, expecting to find a bent sway bar, and found this:

I have a lower control arm on order, but my question is, do I need to compress the spring, or can I get it off the ball joint stud and lower it down to release the spring?

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Mark in MA
05 MB E320CDI 402k Granite Grey Metallic
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62 Jeep CJ-6 120k