hrbarrows, Here is a portion of a post I made on another board, It will give you an idea how to tackle the springs installation. This here is not the same reel, but I'm assuming the re-installation of the spring will be similar.
I'm hoping this might help you.
"Anyone who has taken apart one of these reels, has probably seen a image that looks something like this.
It's really not all that hard to get it back together again, here is how its done.
Start out by pushing the spring back into the housing, starting at the outside perimeter of the housing. The first loop of the spring will be by far the most difficult one.
Once you get the first "Spring" loop in, the rest of the springs packing is a cake walk, the hard part is already over. Continue pushing the spring in slowly around the outside perimeter, working your way towards the center.
After about 30 seconds of working your way around the springs perimeter, it all fits back into the housing fairly easily.

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