Long story short, I managed to do it, but only by shortening my spring compressor bolts and making a custom unit out of it. The spring is deeply recessed into the control arm, especially toward the center. That made it a tricky deal because the spring compressor bolts would interfere with the control arm.
I was right that I only needed a little compression to get the spring in and out. The old one went pretty easy because it was weak, but the new one was a lot stronger, making it tricky proposition to get those two inches, and handle the spring to get it and the pads all placed properly.
I still have one more side to go ( I ran out of daylight and rain was moving in) and I will do it the hard way since I already made the spring compressor. Knowing what I know now, I would probably take it to a shop for spring replacement next time. I could have been in and out with a lift and trans jack. My way was harder.
One other tip, the strut bolts on my 99 were not splined or squared like a carriage bolt. On the GF's pathfinder they were splined and they were hard to get out. On my Bonnie they were just bolts. They were rusted pretty good and quite stuck. I -could- run them back and forth with the impact from the bolt head side to get the lube into the joint and get them free enough to come out.
Now you know the rest of the story.
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... =post&f=19#