The springs were not the problem specifically. I did a complete steering / partial front end rebuild. New tie rods / drag link, new lower control arm bushings and lower ball joints.

After 250K miles on the originals it was surely due.

All other work is completed and I need to re-install the springs to get the car back on the road.

I removed the spring by supporting the LCA with a jack, breaking the lower ball joint free, and slowley lowering the jack to release spring tension. I was on the oposite side of the car btw.

I do not have the recomended LCA cradle nor do I have a welder and the materials required to fabricate one.

I'm sure i'm not the first person to remove and replace a spring in a W114/W115 Mercedes without the special mercedes LCA cradle. I'm simply looking for recollections of what people did in this situation. I've seen in some other posts that people recomend the Klann clone spring compressor. I would love to use one, but it seems as though the telescoping rod will not fit though the lower control arm.

Any guidance is going to be very helpful.