Assembling a Spring-Bomb

Typical of so many big projects, there comes a time when you just think you're getting nowhere. Today was that day. I had lots of help, and we got lots done, but at the end of the day looking back it seems like we're at the same place we were at last night. Actually Stuart came over this morning and spent most of the day bolting together and tightening (and readjusting) the suspension, as fast as I was putting the finishing touches on the shackles -- and not always tapping them quite straight, as Stuart can attest to...

Stuart also got the hitch and the rear crossmember installed. After I finished the fabricating of shackles, I started working on the steering relay. Andrew stopped by and gave a hand with it after he finished replacing the valve cover gasket. Also, somewhere in there the front pinion seal got replaced.

Andrew and I pondered the steering relay for some time, wondering how to safely compress the big spring without taking out an eye or an elbow. I first tried mechanics wire in the vise, but found the wire too thick for inserting the steering shaft. We tried several other ways to compress the spring without success. Finally, Andrew found a D shackle that fit over it, with enough clearance to slide over the steering shaft. We fitted the steering shaft into a socket, which we clamped in the vise. One of the split fiber bushing was put on the lower half of the shaft and clamped in place using a standard hose clamp. Then the flat washer, then the spring, then the other flat washer,finally followed by the D shackle, with a long length of wire tied to each side and hanging towards the floor. Andrew put his foot in the wire, and used that as leverage for compression, freeing both hands to guide it straight. I had the other split bushing ready with another hose clamp and locked it in place on the shaft as soon as Andrew had the spring fully compressed. Things were a bit tense until I had the clamp tightened.

Now, how in the world do we get the D shackle offf!?!

We concluded that the best thing to do was sacrifice the D shackle by cutting it in half with the angle grinder. Andrew was elected, since the D shackle was his idea in the first place, and Stuart and I cleared out of the carport in case the bomb Andrew was making decided to blow up in our faces.
After it was ground mostly through, we attacked it with pliers and vise-grip and opened it up a bit and slid it out. Everything went well, but I wouldn't recommend the method to anyone. I assembled the compressed spring and shaft into the relay body with no further complications, but the entire process seriously ate into our time today.