[ROVERNET - UK] P6B rear brakes - Oh no not again !

[phing]

Hi
 We  started to recommission Rip van winkle over the holidays . It's apparent the brakes need a complete overhaul . Access to the 
rear brakes is as bad as on  the late lammented E type ; so I decided to do the sensible thing , drop the back axle and do it all in 
comfort on the bench . The Rover workshop manual makes it look easy . disconnect the hand brake , brake line and pad wear indicators 
drive shafts etc , remove 4 bolts and you have around 150 lbs of iron  sitting on your chest !
BUT
The drive shafts are solid , with no splines allowing the shaft to be with drawn from the disc ; instead we have a sliding De Dion 
tube .How do we pull the drive shafts which sit in a depression in the rear discs ?? The Rover shop manual[ which must have been 
written by a refugee from the " tell them every thing but the one thing they need to know ' Haynes publishing world ] is silent on 
this point , elswhere when it covers replacing the rear discs it talks of " extending the De Dion tube " but is silent on how this 
is done , and how to re compress it when you have finished .
 RVW is at present sitting on jack stands under the rear spring pans , marinading in penetrating oil .This arrangement is very 
stable , lifts the De dion tube to a sensible height and allows reasonably easy access to the rear axle . It obviously will not 
allow the De D tube" to extend .At present  I can see no way to drop the drive shafts
I don't think I want to follow the manual's advice and  hang RVW from jack stands suporting  2 pieces of steel poked into the rear 
jacking points. Any similar support from the under body will allow the rear suspension and the De D tube to flop down to the end of 
the spring travel ,limiting access .. Under body support will require heroic efforts with the trolley jack and packing to get the 
back end high enough to allow me to get under the low flying De D tube.
 Does any one have any advice , please
 Cheers
 patrick