Man Its too bad I get a 50% discount on snapon BUT he just came to our school.
As for this rope crap, I dont understand that. BUT What you can do is...
Make sure all the valves in that cylider are closed.
Hook up a cylider leak tester(to put compressed air into the cylinder)
remove the spings and magicly the valves stay in place(it may be because of the compressed air below it that is forcing it up into its seat, but who knows
)