Hi John. Just to let you know I got the thing out. I was all set to follow your towaway method but decided last minute to put a ratchet extension through the front bolt bush holes and whack it with a sledgehammer. It came out probably because of all the lubrication it had yesterday. Cleaned it up after that and reinstalled the damper. If it happens again I'll know the damper has gone, though it seemed pretty tight.

Good result. Tha is for your help.

K.

Nice one, Keir.
I'm surprised the damper's in serviceable condition.
Now everything is screwed back together you'll need to squirt bags of grease into the drawtube, pull the bellow forward and you should see grease ooze out from the nylon bush.
Test the damper by pushing it in - if ok it should move forward to it's full extent under its own steam.
The bushes are ok if there's hardly any vertical play +/_ 2mm max.