Buzz and Bud are broken and I suspect most of one, and some of the other gopher (as well as 2 balls I think) are stuck down in the mechanisms.

I printed out a copy of the No Good Gophers Shop Out Guide (credit to Lou Perazzoli) several years ago and it looks like it has some good advice on disassembly and reassembly.

I am having vision issues and will have to have someone with good eyes come help me. Before they get here I'd like to have everything ready so as not to prolong the tear down of the machine (including replacement gophers IF NECESSARY.) I ordered replacement gophers from Planetary Pinball today and I have a ring set and plan to replace these too at the time of cleaning / repair.
The picture below shows what I have retrieved thus far.

Question
1) To remove the broken gophers and retrieve the balls, would it be better to access from above the play field or below?

Any other thoughts or suggestions are welcome,
TIA,
-=T=-
NGG no good gophers broken bud and buzz 20221230 (resized).jpg

Quoted from latenite04:

The 2 gopher mechanism unscrew from the bottom of the playfield and you can do the replacement on a bench. It's not hard to replace them once out. There is a lock nut and allan head screw through the side that holds it all together.

Thank you VERY MUCH!
-=T=-

Thank you and Happy New Year!
-=T=-