[3.9 DSG]

Sunday evening my dad and I spent... well... a lot of time under my car trying to get my new springs and c/c plates in with no results. I was having trouble finding (on American Muscle) a write-up that address both the installation of the plates and springs with no avail, but I essentially settled on the idea of the process of (for the front);
1. Jack up and remove wheels
2. remove brakes (for accessibility)
3. disconnect the sway bar
4. remove tie rods (this is where i go stuck)
5. disconnect strut and ball bearing from spindle (maybe not the bearing)
6. remove strut from plate
7. replace plate
8. swap springs and isolators
10. put it all back together

I'm not sure if there's a better way to do this, if this will get me into some sort of accident. I also was wondering how on earth i get the tie rod out, because I freed up the cotter pin and castle nut, but with hammers and everything my dad and i couldn't get it out for the life of us. Thanks, and any help/advice would be appreciated.

[clidefr0g]

For the CC plates
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/co...CC9994v4r8.pdf

for the springs.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/h-r-ss...4-install.html