Does anyone know of a tool to get the top spring that goes to the 2 drum shoes on any easier. I've spent a whole day trying to do 1 drum brake and about half of that was me trying to get the top spring on. I've tried needle nose pliers, screw drivers, and a spring pliers that people swore up and down it would make it easy and the pliers don't go far enough. Anyone have any tips or tricks that might help.

 

I just went through this on my 1991 Civic Hatch yesterday. It was a pain but I used the drum brake spring pliers. kinda hard to explain so I took a photo.

This is already assembled but I used the straight pointed end of the pliers to pull the spring and the curved end with a piece of cardboard on the shoe to protect the surface oriented like this photo. It took a few tries to get it in there but its doable like this.

 

The last time I changed them I used my various needle-nosed pliers and lots of bad words. Good luck. A special tool would be very helpful.