How do you remove the spring on the sidestand so that you can remove the side stand? Pulling on an end of the spring with visegrips doesn't seem to be the way.

 

You can buy a spring puller for about $8. It's just a hook with a handle on it. They work well though.

 

I have pulled off the spring before only using needle nose pliers. Just make sure the kickstand is not down while you're trying to take off the spring.

 

+1 on the pliers with less tension.

 

It looks like these geniuses have already helped you out -- I was going to suggest trying a sledgehammer.

Seriously, it looks like they've already told you how to do it but if you take a look at BikeBandit.com's webpage they have nice schematic diagrams for Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) parts for bikes which can at least give you a nice guide to what parts should be there and how they fit together and then you might be able to figure it out for yourself and you'll at least know if any nuts, bolts or other parts go missing in the driveway when you get it taken apart.

Why do you want to remove the sidestand/kickstand ?