Projects Shift tower tool for Model A Ford

I picked up a 31 A tudor a while back and it is in pretty decent shape. I need to re***emble the shift tower but really need a special tool that compresses the big spring in the tower so I can get the retainer put on. I though I could compress by hand but no way.
Anyone got one they could loan to a trustworth old guy. Or if you have one your not using to sell?
Thanks for looking
Guy

 

Bump

 

What I did was to put the spring over the shifter and put 3 wire ties through the spring with another around the 3 so that would not slide together. I then pulled the wire ties until the spring was compressed and then slid the clip in place. I then installed it in the tower and used a propane torch to burn through the wire ties. Tricky but it worked for me!

 

Sounds like it will work! Thanks a heap

 

ive done that on coil springs before in my younger dumber days a wonder i'm alive

 

Reminds me of a way to hook up hood hinge springs. Clamp one loop in the vise and bend the spring back and forth. Insert washers between the coils as the spring is flexed untill it is long enough to hook up. Close the hood and the washers fall out. I didn't have enough washers last time but did have a roll of pennies.
Thanks again to the power of the HAMB

 

It worked well. I put the spring over a piece of sq. tube I had and pulled the ties tight, then put over the shifter. I tried over the stalk first but was really hard to keep the spring straight and the wire ties evenly spaced.
Thanks again for the tio