Need to adjust or replace spiral balance

This site has provided a lot of useful information about windows maintaiance and repairment.

After reading posts in this site, there are still several question about replacing the spiral balance of the window shown in the picture. The spiral shoe is a J like hook attached to the end of the spiral. It is difficult to take it out of clip. Questions are

1). do I need to remove weather strip (the black part)?

2). Do I need to bent the hook down to separate the shoe from clip?

3. If yes to 2), is there a good tool or procedure to do so?

Thanks for your attention.

Thank you very much for your reply. Had been busy and have no time to visit till now.

It seems the clip is very tight to pull down. I ended up by using a hook to pry the clip while using the charging tool to help pull the spiral down.

Now, I noticed it is very hard to take the whole balance out sine the clip keeps me guessing its orientation. Since the spring is totally gone, I decided to pull the spiral from bottom, then pull the steel tube from top.

To put the new spiral back is another challenge. The new one drops down easily, and keeps turning. Eventually, I made a poor man's version of fish tape to thread the thing.

Then, charging is another story. How do I know if I need to turn the spiral clock or counter-clock wise? Could I determine this by looking at the winding direction of the spiral?

In short, three questions
1. best practice to retrieve the old clip-on balance out?
2. best way to insert new clip-on balance
3. ballpark number of turns to charge the balance. That is number vs weight of window?

Also, how to maintain this thing periodically if such maintenance is recommended?

Appreciate your expert advise.