Hi Tom,
Was just doing something else (Saturday evening here) and saw your latest message.
Glad you are getting there even if it is painful. I would probably have made just the one high level assembly then made an extensive FT with Instances to show the sub assembled parts and springs of different lengths as that way it would be pretty much all in one FT at the top level apart from the springs which would have their own FTs.
Mind you I have not experimented with view states nor have I used Simplified Reps in Drawings.
Also have to say my Explode skills are not that great. I have used Explodes but manually move each part or sub assembly and have not used the extension lines or offset them. Has been sufficient to date but I often use screen shots of shaded models in PowerPoint with arrows and notes to explain assemblies rather than a more formal drawing as I have found the former are much more readily accepted by non tech people whereas formal drawings are only really useful if everybody has that level of understanding.
Generally there are several ways of doing things with ProE/Creo and who is to say what is best.
Just changing from WF5 M100 to Creo 2.0 M060
Regards, Brent