hitching?
I don't know if this will help much, but if you use a longer cheater pipe when cocking your spring bars, you'll find it easier to pull them up into the locked position. The longer bar gives you more leverage thereby making it easier. Just be careful not to let it slip from your grasps part way up, if this happens it could smack you pretty good.
Ed's little trick works very well too, but as he stated, use extreme caution when hitching that way. Good luck to you, and I hope you'll find one of these tips that will work well for you.