w123 trailing arm bushing: remove rear end or not?

[patbob]

I need to do the trailing arm bushings on my '83 300D, so I've been reading threads here and elsewhere trying to understand what all is involved. Some people seem to be able to do it without removing the whole rear end like the FSM says, but those threads are for cars other than the w123 sedan (mostly the w126 & w123 wagon). Others remove the rear end.

A question to all those of you who've done this job on a w123 sedan.. can this job be done without removing the whole rear end? Just do the drop-and-tilt of the subframe to get access to the bushing bolts? And more importantly, do I need to compress the springs, or is it safe to do the job without compressing them first?

I just don't want to get under there and start unbolting things thinking I'll be OK without first compressing the springs, only to find out the hard way I'm not. Compressing the spring isn't a problem if necessary, but I don't enjoy the idea of being under the car a few feet away from a loaded spring compressor if it wasn't necessary in the first place.

Thanks.