Tom,
I know that on a 6 you can take the whole trailing arm off as one unit by just seperating the sliding axle at the splines. You can leave the other 1/2 attached to the diff.
Keep in mind though that emergency brake cables and brake lines would have to be disconnected.
Not sure what you are trying to do, but I thought that I would answer the question directly.
Cheers,
Tush