Pinion seal, front-rear & stabilizer shocks & tie rod end replacement journey

[CS1972]

Started this journey at the rear & ran into something I was not prepared for – even after watching hot to YouTube videos and/or reading threads on this forum.

When I started to loosen the bolts in order to pull the propeller shaft out of the way, I found that as I unscrewed one bolt there was simply no more room left to unscrew and I could not remove – runs into the propeller shaft (see pic). The bolt was no longer threaded so I believe that I will just have to loosen them all and then push/pull the propeller shaft towards the front of the truck and it will be out. I stopped because I wasn’t expecting this and wanted to investigate first. According to a parts catalog and service manual there are two types: U-bolt or Strap (see pic). Ok, that’s explained but it seems odd the bolts would be too long to remove because it runs into the propeller shaft. Has anyone else experienced this?