good tips, I have found the grooves. My mod tool isn't quite up to snuff. The plate is bending, not strong enough, also it seems that the spring is rather long and so the lower control arm doesn't want to line up so well with the threaded rod to go through where the shock absorber would go. I still have the lower control arm attached at its' two pivot points. I think it would be best if I could really compress the heck out of the spring as a stand-alone then place it into the pocket and line everything up that way as makbe states, but I don't think the makeshift rod tool works that way. I might need to go rent the regular inner spring compressor. any other ideas ?