Preloading ball screws

I am sure this has been covered ad nauseum, but here goes...I have 2
ballnuts threaded into a steel block which is attached to my table for my
ballscrew conversion...I had been depending on rigid backlash adjustment by
simply screwing one of the nuts tightly against the other, and tightening
both setscrews. As I understand it, a spring type arrangement is more
advantageous due to wear issues which act to change the fixed preload over
time.

My question is this....as I have no room whatsoever on at least one of the
axes for adding anything to the periphery of the nut, and the threads
already are there, would it be reasonable to attach a strong spring such
that it would act to tighten the threaded ball nut's threads at all times?
That way, the spring wouldn't have to be nearly as strong as an installation
without the threads installed and a heavy spring arrrangement in-line with
the nut. Am I seeing this clearly? The spring could partially wrap around
the nut and keep a constant preload.
Has anybody done this?
R. William Kichman, P.E.
Kichman Engineering Associates
103 Old Furnace Road
Cornwall, PA 17016-0643
tel/fax 717/270-0714