Ohm out the short wiring harness that connects to the chaser board in the mothership. The wires crack and break on most AFMs and without ohming it, you might not realize it. Lotsa vibration here. Find the broken wire, fix it. Since it's everything that is out, I would guess it's the shared ground wire - but most I've worked on needed more than 1 wire spliced.

Broken wires, exactly. Struggling to get the mothership off, seems the nut is just turning the spring and I'm scared I will over twist to remove.

How strong/forceful can I be?