Remove trunk rods

[Katfish]

70 Challenger,
I need to remove the trunk rod springs.
What's the best / easy method to do this with least destruction of paint.

Thx

[JH27N0B]

Now you have me frustrated trying to remember the trick!
I ran into the issue of trying to remove the trunk rod on a Challenger to replace the bushings some years back and thought I'd need to pry it off and scratch up the paint.  I asked on one of the forums and the response was that prying isn't necessary.  You remove the tension on the rod and then it easily comes right out of the hole by hand.
But I'm not certain how you remove the tension, maybe close the trunk such that it's only open a foot or so and then the tension is gone?  It's under maximum tension when the trunk lid is fully open.

[aussiemark]

It's under minimum tension when the trunk lid is fully open.

[jimynick]

We used to use a long 3/8" drive extension. The rod end fits in the socket part of the extension and you just use it as a long lever to lift and move the rod to unhitch it. Be careful, the rods are under pretty good tension and you don't want the rod to pull out of the extension!