well, you can do what I've done..... drop the entire cross member, then change it while it's down. It's a piece of cake OFF the car!
Sorry that doesn't help one bit, just couldn't resist. I'm repainting the engine bay & engine, as I have it all apart. For real, I believe there is room to get a pickle fork (pneumatic/air version) in there and pop the joints loose. That's about the only idea I can come up with while it's all on the car. Good luck. Let us know if you have success another way.
1991 535i 176k (under serious surgery: repaint, interior swap, manual conversion, etc.)
1993 750iL 132k