I just did my struts (well, 3 of them...) last week and can help out those finding this thread
1. You have to compress the spring to disassemble/reassemble the strut. The rears are tiny and no problem for a rented compressor set but the fronts are a tad beefy. I personally have access to a full garage with a wall mounted compressor press, which makes this about as easy as it can be.
2. The rears were actually more difficult than the fronts, which has never been the case on the other 5 makes I've done struts on. I got hung up trying to get the strut back in the flange to align the hole for the bolt. I had another set of hands available but it took me (180 lbs) hanging on the lower arm and my buddy using a huge punch as a wedge/guide to align the hole for the bolt. If I had been solo, I would have started removing the tie rod links to drop the rear arm down lower.
I used Monroe only because they had a buy 3 get 1 free deal and I don't tow or haul heavy. Oh, my left rear flange nuts were so corroded that the bolts were 80% powder. It will have to be cut out professionally in case the flange is toast, too.