77 Argosy 26 T- Major Shock problem

Spent an hour on the phone with my local (125 miles) Airstream dealer about the shock problem on my 77 Argosy 26T. I cannot remove the shocks from the trailer. When you loosen the nut, it bottoms against the steel angle and you cannot use a prybar for extra room, there is none and the flange won't move. The dealer's tech svcs guy said that he was not familiar with the trailer but based on the photos I sent from my phone, he thought the only way to change the shocks was to drop the axles off the trailer, change the shocks and rehang them. I can't believe that Airstream/Argosy would design a trailer suspension like that. I am a decent mechanic, having rebuilt my first engine at 17. There has got to be a way to do this but I am still in shock (no pun intended) and am just not seeing it. PLEASE HELP!!:innocent: I should have the photos available tomorrow for upload here.