Now that the front end is disassembled and awaiting new Lemforders and springs, I decided to tear apart the rear end. After the PITA rear seat removal, headrests and all, I thought I'd whip the shock assembly out in a couple of minutes, but....
After removing the lower bolt, it won't budge, not even the proverbial inch, not even a proverbial millimeter. Now, I've done this job on a few VW's with no such problem. Am I missing something? I've removed the dogbones for replacement, but can't imagine that causing problems. Do I need to give it a few swift blows toward the vehicle to free it?? Does anyone have any suggestions. Everything to this point has been simple, no frozen bolts on the car, thrust arms off in 5 min a side with a puller. I guess I was asking for it.

Humbled by a rear shock,

Dave M 91 525im, 485,000km