Uhh, gentlemen, a little thought process helps a lot here. Put the bike on the center stand. Put a lever under the rear tire to use to help un-load the linkage when you pull the bolts out and they will slide right out. Gravity is pulling the rear wheel down, so you simply lever the rear up a bit with an old fence board, a pry bar, a large screwdriver, what ever you have that's a little long so you have some leverage to make it easier.
You can NOT remove linkage bolts with the bike on the rear wheel! All that weight will push against the linkage and make it extremely difficult to remove the bolts and even more fun when you pull them out, not to mention when you go to try and put them in again.