My power went out last night, sorry for not posting back sooner! As far as what I did with the spring: There is no need to compress the spring to replace ball joints. Here is a pic from when the spindle was removed. You can see a jack-stand is placed under the lower control arm and that is supporting the entire weight of the car. The jack is under the control arm bushing without any weight on it, just a redundant safety measure. The only times you need to compress the spring are to replace the spring or the control arm(or it's bushing). I would NEVER allow a shock to take the pressure produced by the coil spring, it's just not a good shop practice.


With the setup I posted a pic of, it is impossible to put the joint in 'sideways'. When the joint bottoms in the spindle assembly, it is straight. I'm a relative newcomer here so maybe I should tell you guys who you're getting advice from. I'm a diesel mechanic for the state of Connecticut, ASE Master plus L2 electronic diesel engine diagnosis certified. I would never post a repair procedure I wasn't absolutely sure of the safety and professionalism of.