Pelican Parts Forums - Clutch Slave won't come out

Doing a TB/WP on an '89 S4 5spd. The clutch slave cylinder rod will not push back into the cylinder far enough to drop out of the hole. I can just barely manually push it back until it seems to hit a hard stop, still several inches short of being able to get out of the hole due to the hard line holding the cylinder a few inches from the plate.
The rod seems to find the cup ok when installed, the clutch felt just fine before I started, nothing in the system seemed unusual before. But I'm not quite clear on how everyone else is doing it - pushing the rod into the cylinder seems to bottom out well before it clears, plus I'm dealing with big pressure on that rod - enough that I can't really hold it in even with a pair of pliers for more than a few seconds. Pulling the rod out from the cylinder I meet resistance and haven't tried to force it, though it seems some notes say to "remove the rod" so I'm not quite sure.
Thinking it might be time to just disconnect the hard line and then bleed the system when I put it back together. But surely there's a trick I'm missing? (Thought about pulling the starter, but that top starter bolt does not look like it's fun to get to either.)