V7 850 swingarm removal

Hello, I've recently noticed a small crack on the inner side of the rubber boot covering the drive shaft between the swingarm and gearbox. It isn't open yet, I think, but I would like to remove it to either fix or replace it.

So the question is: can you remove the swingarm as a whole, or do you need to separate the rear bevel gear and remove the drive shaft first?

I would rather undo the least amount of critical components possible, I haven't been lucky with the oem fasteners...