Looking into the HD front springs to help with sag. Will I have to remove my plastic? Trying to avoid that.

 

Not necessary to remove the plastic. Remove the tie rod end from the strut along with the first strut bold that holds the brake hose if necessary.Remove the top strut nut by clamping vice grips with rubber or shop cloth close to the top of cartridge shaft to protect from scarring.Lower the strut down on a small stool,inner tire rim ,etc to be able to lean the strut out with out pulling the cv apart. Best to have an air impact to remove the nut and and spring cap. Pull old spring off,install new one and you can use a large pair of vice grips and again and a piece of rubber or cloth. Clamp a few coils down from the top,turn the vice grips around the spring to ramp up and compress it enough to get the spring cap,impact nut back on,install lower pivot,slide the strut up,install upper pivot,washers and nut back on while clamped down with the vice grips. Some use ratchet straps or spring compressors to compress the spring,but this worked for me.