AC compressor packed up at 170k+

[TriX5]

Ugh, in the middle of working on my F10 replacing tension struts, brakes and (unexpectedly) CV boots, my wife announced the E53 AC stopped working.... I am waiting for the special pliers to put the clamps on the boots of the F10 (why does no parts store stock these?). So, today I checked and the compressor is seized solid, I took the belt off as the pulley looked wobbly, I don't need it to get worse if the AC belt gets thrown.

This is of course only months after the engine was out....... I had noticed that the AC compressor is in an impossibly tight spot right next to the frame rails. I found a thread on XO for an E53 with the N62 (RHD) where it took the owner 2 weeks to get the swap done. Is this of equal complexity on the M62 engine??

It may take me until July to get around to this job (college semester is over and both kids graduate tomorrow!! Don't need to fix this car immediately :-) but I wonder if anyone on here has done the AC compressor swap and how you did it?

I am contemplating: 1. remove frame stiffening plate, 2. draining the coolant and disconnecting the hoses front and back, 3. loosening the exhaust flanges, 4. disconnect steering shaft, 5. disconnect engine ground, 6. remove fan/shroud then drop the sub-frame and engine/trans a few inches to get at the bolts holding the compressor on.

An alternative might be to "just" drop the sub-frame on the right enough to get access to the bolts and work around the remaining obstacles?

Am I overthinking this? Open to hearing simpler ways of doing this!