I did this last year and the way to make this job go much easier is to remove the radio speaker grill.
This gives you a lot of room to get your arm behind the dash to finagle nuts off of the studs. I did not remove the choke and throttle cables to gain access. I was able to reach behind the speedo while sitting on the seat without having to lay on my back under the dash.
I did not need to remove the steering column, brackets, or anything else.
I used a 1/4" drive socket wrench with an extension and just felt around under there to get the socket on the nut.
When it comes time to re-assemble, use knurled brass nuts instead of hex nuts. They can be installed by hand and tightened sufficiently with two fingers.
