I was the same, I didn’t need to disconnect the gear cables in the event, on the second attempt. On my first attempt I did remove them as per the manual but then got stuck trying to get the selector linkage of the tower splines. On the second attempt I just moved the linkage out of the way. I would also agree that it may be possible to skip the bit about the aircon collector. The real pain for me was the plastic cover, I just don’t have the strength in my hands anymore and couldn’t jiggle it out for love nor money!