I replaced the driveshaft rubber bellows and wheel bearing seals on one side of the car with the suspension completely dismantled. I don't need to completely dismantle to do the other side. Just wanted to check whether it is safe to remove the steering knuckle without first compressing the road spring. No mention is made of this in the Intereurope manual, and the upper wishbones don't look immensely strong - although looks can be deception
It depends on how you're planning to remove it. The Spring seat is held in place by the same two bolts that hold the upper ball joint into the A arm. If you don't want to compress the spring, you need to leave the ball joint bolted into the A-arm, and remove the knuckle from the ball joint instead (does this make sense?).