The trick in refitting the main spring is 50% confidence and 50% brute force ;-). Several in here have seen me do it when refurbishing their kingpins and may up the brute %....... ;-).
Technique I use is hard to explain, but, make sure stub is sitting as low as it can in the lower crosshead ‘eye’ yoke. Fit steering bearing and spring on top of stub flange (smear of grease either end coil of spring face helps stop creaks for a while) now hold the spring with one hand in the middle and the flat of your other hand against the side of the spring at the top.
Big breath, lots of confidence and pull the ‘centre’ hand towards you whilst you push the ‘upper’ hand forward. Imagine trying to banana the spring.
This will lower the front upper edge of the spring a fraction so it tucks under the top yoke of the crosshead.
Tap the spring across and into place with a mallet and pop a medium screwdriver down the rough top bolt hole just as a security measure.
Breath out!
Works every time, well it did for me in over 30 cars case so nigh on 70 springs fitted this way ;-).
As Phil R famously said “how did you do that?”..... maybe more brute than I thought 🤣🤣🤣
BR
Colin
