My concern with doing that would be the ability to get the car to sit level afterward. I don't think the odds are in your favor that removing a spring will result in a level car. It certainly cant hurt to try and wont cost anything. You can, however, get the leaf springs re-arched so they sit level. This was fairly expensive when I checked into it many years ago, it was more cost effective to get new HD springs.
As far as the spring liners go, I was always under the impression they were there to reduce squeaking/noise as they springs flexed upon each other.
If you have a really sturdy old c-clamp to use, that is the best way I found to disassemble and reassemble the spring packs. I would not trust the new cast cheapo clamps. Have had several break in recent years.
