flexible components and parameters

that way I only have to change the parameter number and my whole stack in the assembly updates.

I think it might work if you went into 'Tools>Relations' and put in something like d4=Compressed where d4 is the controlling dimension. Then you could change the parameter Compressed and have the controlling dim update. There's also a bunch of different things you can select to make the component variable. One is parameters, although, I don't see how this would work without somehow equating a paramter to a dimension.

yeah, but then wouldn't changes to d4 modify my drawing even if it was selected as a flexible dimension after the relation was added. I did find a solution to my problem though, I selected the first spring washer overall height dimesion as flexible and modified it to its working height. Then I made the distance between two datums (equalling the overall height) on the other washers flexible based on the distance of the first spring. Now I just have to update the flexible dim for the first spring and it changes the working stack height of them all.