[pauloh]

In case anyone is still interested, a quick note as I hit the road with TM for the first time, in about an hour.
YES, I have learned now these particular trunnion bars can be installed with the TM hooked up. I put them on the way we "discovered" earlier (before hooking up the TM), then tried removing them in different directions as suggested by wiser heads here. By turning/rotating the bars all the way toward the TV, so that the tip of the bar was actually under my vehicle, I could rotate it out (or back into place) with just barely enough room to do so, and it took some twisting around to achieve this. Again, this does not jive with the instruction sheet in my opinion which say something about parallel with the bumper of the TV for installation, but at least I understand the process now. Sorry no photos but could do so if someone needs them.