Finally did the rear shocks.
 

My rear shocks were quite gone with 175k miles on the originals. Went for Bilstiens from Arnott. I was a bit afraid at first after reading the horror stories from some write ups about ratchet straps and pry bars to get the shock/bag to compress for removal. Reality is that is super easy.

Just follow the Arnott instructions and remove the lower eccentric bolt connecting the spindle to the lower control arm. Piece of cake and the lower CA will drop right down and shock/bag can be removed with no compression necessary. Be sure to mark the bolt so it can be put back in the same orientation. A alignment wouldn't be a bad idea anyway afterwards. Time from jack up to cleanup was about 5hrs to do both sides stress free. Not bad at all.

Tip: have a 12mm allen wrench/socket for the top plug and a air impact wrench to remove the nut off the shaft. Shaft will just spin if you don't have the air tool.

Result is the rear is now firm like it should be instead of floating and bouncing like a old Cadillac over bumps and dips.