I rented a spring compressor for my '91 190E 2.6, but I can't get it to work. It's the type that has 2 unequal length hooks that are connected to one another. You are supposed to drop it down the middle of the spring and arrange it where the hooks grab onto the spring near one end and a long threaded rod with a moveable "fork" goes up through the spring and connects to the hooks. The problem is that the assemby with the hooks is too big to manuever inside the spring itself. Can someone post some pics of the type of spring compressor I should be using? Can I use the "strut" type that consists of 2 or 3 separate threaded rods with "claws" that hook onto the spring from the outside?

The only compressor that works well on the front coils is the internal Klann style spring compressor. The external hook units can't be positioned right or suffer from clearance issues that make using them torture.

Given the size of the spring and the amount of energy stored in the coils, it's a risky business of doing the springs without the proper compressor. That said, there are those that have removed them by using bottle jacks under the LCA, using a chain to hold the coils and then lowering and removing the LCA, but that would be an extremely risky procedure and not recommeded.