Tail (boot) strut removal/refitting

[trotter]

Right guys, got a wee bittie of an issue.....

Was attempting to replace the boot struts last weekend (cue lots of swearing and snapping of various clips on trim pieces)....:mad: :mad:

Anyhoo, to cut a long story short i\'ve now got two issues:

1) When the tail is fully up, the struts are not fully extended, short of getting a mate to help is there any tricks on how to get the various bolts to line up?

2) On one side i\'ve managed to round of the nut thats attached to the ball joint on the tail, so I can;t remove it...can\'t get an impact wrench/stud extractor to get it either because the end is connected to the ball on the strut mount. Short of Dremell\'ing it off (pressurised strut so not too keen on that) ant ideas how to remove it???

Cheers in advance

T