Well I just might DIY. I had the rear underside steam cleaned in anticipation of my mechanic doing the axles, and that alone makes the job more appealing. As a little warm up exercise I backed the rear tires on 1 foot long 2x6's to raise the rear 1 and ½ inches to see how much trouble loosening the diff fill plug would be (I read that here, fill plug first then drain plug). I telescoped a breaker bar inside a 3 ft pipe which laid across my upper legs and laying on my back in driveway, raised legs and snap! No not leg, just noise from fill plug. So far so good. Applying power with legs allowed me to not only get more power, but to steady the breaker bar with hands so allen would not slip. Next on agenda is to review threads on basics like jack points, jack stands, floor jacks and tools ( I know a screwdriver isn't going to be sufficient for removing the diff side seals) and searching threads to see whether first filling diff with synthetic gear oil to clean up diff before commencing makes sense or just leave alone. And reading again Jeremy's excellent thread on replacing half axles. Yeah I'm tempted to DIY.

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1985 300D Turbo
"Evolution is God's way of giving upgrades" Francis Collins