Here's a sneaky trick- - - - -use a piece of big all-thread rod (1/2" maybe) and a couple of nuts and washers with holes drilled to catch the hooked ends of the spring, and stretch it out close to the length needed to engage the brake shoes. Then stick flat washers between the spring coils to keep it stretched. Once the spring is hooked into the holes in the shoes, slip the washers out one at a time.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!