I might have to remove the left rear shock to fix my belt guard, do I need any special tools ie some sort of spring compressor? I need to put in a couple of larger washers to grip the belt guard as it's broken.

Just take a bit of the weight off the rear with a scissor jack under the frame...

If you don't got no jack... jes' pull the bike, (standing on the left side, pull on the seat and right handlebar), until the bike lifts onto the front wheel and the sidestand,.. (the rear wheel will come up pretty easy)( let it rest on your thigh)... then slip a stool or a crate under the frame from the right side... (better have the stool close by)...
Presto!.. rear wheel is off the ground... (I've even changed tires this way)...
Should probably run video on this...
..just in case something interesting happens... ...
No kidding though,.. it's easier than it sounds...

PS... you can do the same for the front wheel... just position yerself further back, and put the stool further forward...
Easy as toast...

NOTE... author assumes no responsibility for such dang fool shenanigans... It's just what I do, when I don't got no jack... ...

heh, my only comment here is if I can do this job (and I have) then it has to be incredibly easy.  

I used a small jack, placed a flat piece of wood under the bike (on top of the jack) and jacked the bike up enough to jam a cinder block under the frame with another flat piece of wood on top of that.

Getting the shocks off was pretty easy.  Getting the new ones (which were originally for a VS800) on was a bit tougher as I needed to jack the bike up more and get the swingarm to drop the rear tire more.  It wasn't that bad, but it was a pain to do by myself as the bike wanted to flop around a bit on the jack.

Thank you gentlemen, I had a small floor jack, and by backing the shock to minimum tension and raising the rear wheel a couple of inches off the ground the shock came off easy. The lower shock mounting bolt didn't seem to want to pass through the pulley, on reflection, it may have been that the hex edge caught it, but if that's the case it must be a close passage anyway. The result of this was that I had to slot my packing clamps for the belt guard which I didn't want to do. The bike is now back together but I'm concerned that the outer packer has moved the guard too close to the pulley and if I have to remove it the clamp washers won't be as effective. Just have to ride it and find out.