Bill,
<<  Is it worth the risk to remove the nose gear extention 'spring' to
see if it solves the problem?>>
That spring(gas strut) is absolutely essential to push the nose gear
out against the air stream during an emergency extension.  It should not
be removed, even just to experiment.  Anyway, you would still have
gravity to contend with.  Actually if the gear were retracted while
flying inverted, hmmmm.
The proper way to test this is in a test fixture with a big spring
putting a load on the retracted cylinders prior to extension.  If I get
really bored after the holidays, perhaps I will try this.
Chris Zavatson
N91CZ
360 std