No. You absolutely DO NOT NEED to remove the tail. Replacing the spring with trans out of the car is a simple 10-15 min job. Earlier in this thread I posted a pic of the writeup with pics on how to easily replace the spring.

 

This job sucks trying to do it without removing the trans , I dont know how y'all removed the pin

 

The centering spring broke earlier this year on my S5. Was trying to decide whether to replace it with transmission in or out of car. After searching the boards, I'm tending just to pull the transmission rather than struggle with it while in the car. In any event. It's low priority on my to do list.

Good luck with your job!

 

Thank you! I ended up removing the transmission today.

 

Let us know how the job turns out.