Ferryman wrote:

I should take out the inner plastic wheelwell, just for clarity and makes it easier to stay away from EAS lines.
Tony.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check this later when I swing by my friendly neighborhood generic garage (I guided them through my front airspring replacement and later the rear brake rotors) -- hope they're not busy today. I checked RAVE and it mentions removing "wheel arch liner fixings" -- would these be mostly disposable like trim clips? Because I doubt I'll be able to source replacements here if they become unusable after removal.

You can save them when removing with care, pry up the inner pin and pull the clip out.
They are like these:

Ferryman wrote:

You can save them when removing with care, pry up the inner pin and pull the clip out.
They are like these:

We ended up keeping the plastic wheel well lining in place. The gap was bigger than expected, we had a full view of the bolt and the wires/lines to avoid. Perhaps someone had been in there before and maybe cut the lining for better access.

It was a straightforward job (replacement of shocks and drop links), though it took the shop 2 hours to complete between 2 people (young mechanic plus a younger guy who looked like he was interning). The most difficult part was taking the top bolt off the front left shock (NAS vehicle, tight in that area). Also, the shop's torque wrench used sockets, which wouldn't fit in the space for that side. So that bolt was tightened by feel whereas the others were tightened properly to 92 foot-pounds.

Nice one. You probably don't have to deal with rusted bits like we do in the UK, I've always had to get the angle grinder out for the nuts on the drop links.

Gilbertd wrote:

Nice one. You probably don't have to deal with rusted bits like we do in the UK, I've always had to get the angle grinder out for the nuts on the drop links.

This is the biggest difference I've come across, nothing is rusted up. All the jobs I've done have been so much easier than at home. Drop links took around 15 minutes and gave up without a fight, and on the job I've just done, every brake union and bleed nipple were easy to crack with a light tap with the heel of the hand. It really does make working a pleasure.

Saves money on an angle grinder as well so you can invest in highly expensive DOT 4 fluid instead!