TRW ps pump question

Thanks 4spdragtop for this thread and all the great information! Everyone else as well. This topic is hard to find info on out there!

Update on my trw p/s pump rebuild: Ordered the gates rebuild kit you named and it came with the bearings. (ordered thru Rock Auto) Followed pretty much all the same steps and had he same challenges along the way but I have it all back together and reinstalled in the car. Waiting on a new p/s return line to test the pump.

The areas I had most difficulty with included the removal of the needle bearing housing, removal of the circlip, and the reinstallation of the spring loaded slippers.

-Needle bearing housing removal: After trying to push the needle bearing sleeve out from the back failed I ran out of options and ran a screwdriver down between the needle bearing housing and the pump body in order to break the side wall of the sleeve and slide it out. The process did scar the side wall of the housing but sanded the high spots and should not affect performance as the needle bearing sleeve covers it up. Anyone have a better way?

-Circlip removal: Was able to slightly spread the circlip by using snap ring pliers between the ends of the circlip while in the shaft groove. Took a while but finally managed to get another small screwdriver under the circlip and work the ends out of the grove. Then slide it off. Anyone have tips on a better way?

-Reinstallation of the spring loaded slippers: I saw the great tip on using a zip tie to hold the slippers and springs in place for reinstallation and thought to myself -cool trick, looks easy... but I had a difficult time actually getting them reinstalled because the side walls of the pump have large ports and as I slid the shaft/spring/slipper into the pump the zip tie slides off and the leading ends of the slippers would get caught in the ports. I finally managed to get it in by sliding a very narrow putty knife down between to compress the slipper/spring as it passed the port opening in the side wall. Again, this seemed less than the best way to do it and actually there is some doubt as to whether the springs stayed seated correctly during the process (tried looking down between with magnification and a flashlight and looks ok from what little I can see). Anyone have tips to aid in this process?