Recoil Spring questions on my 931

Hey Guys,
While posting pictures of my 931 while working on the steering clutch, Nige pointed out that the recoil spring on the right side was still in the compressed state. (Much to my suprise) :eek:This is my first crawler. On to my questions. If possible explain the function of the spring and how it operates. I suspect it is a shock absorbing kind of function but I am not sure how it works,
And also some insite into releasing the compression? I did try to turn the nut to no avail, Do I need to do the 3" round in the sprocket and reverse the machince to compress the spring more before I can loosen the large nut, I will post some pictures but they are not that clear.
The threads are pretty beat and rusted up, I did order new nuts which I hope to clean up the threads with.Can anyone tell me if this is a good plan of attack to fix the situation with the recoil spring,
Thanks for the advice,
Mike M.

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