Does anyone know if it is even necessary to loosen the drive shaft clamping nut in order to get enough space to slip the front flex disc out past the centering bushing?

I read somewhere that loosening the clamping nut is unnecessary because you could get enough space by pulling down on the drive shaft; but looking at the diagram, I'm not sure if this also requires removing the mount bolts for the intermediate bearing.

If I remove only the heat shield above the middle muffler, I don't think I will be able to get a wrench on the clamping nut without taking off the entire exhaust from the cat back because the rear of the car is not raised and I'm concerned that just allowing the rear muffler to drop to the ground won't create enough room to get in there with a big wrench.

Any help would be appreciated. Without taking the heat shield off, I don't have a very good picture in my mind of how things are situated up there.

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1993 400E, 256,000 miles (totaled)
1994 E420, 200,000+ miles
1995 E420, 201,000 miles