Woot! Fixed my DX VR 55-200mm Nikon lense at last! Sorry I have no pictures of the work in progress, but my Vic cybertool and Spirit were both involved at some point, as well as a magnetic driver head, and some precision tweezers...
Some time ago... quite a long time actually, I was switching between my 55-200 and my 18-55 and the 55-200 rolled out of my lap before I got the cover on it and fell about a foot to the ground... I saw at the time one of the the plastic teeth was a bit chewed from hitting the pavement, but didn't see any obvious damage and didn't think any more about it until the next time I tried to use it... seems like the little tab that controls the "Aperture coupling lever" had bent ever so slightly, whereas normally you should be able to flick it and it should snap back into place, but it was jammed.
I hadn't used it in months as a consequence, fearing it would cost more to send it in and fix than I paid for the lense, so I've done without.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my brother in law fell while hiking with his d7000 and his 18-105 VR and snapped the plastic mounting ring (ie lense connect to the body...)
he ordered a replacement online and asked me to help him re-assemble as he had an issue trying to solder the (ground?) wire as it is very small and needed to be soldered to a tiny spring mounted pin. We successfully managed to get it sorted... actually I ended up taking it apart more and found an easier way to do it. And gradually we reassembled following the repair guide I had found online.
Today I thought what the hell, I'll have a look at mine, it's not near as damaged as his was. I was right, it was only the steel ring that controls the aperture coupler that was bent... a bit of tender flexing while holding it flat with my Spirit, and it was sliding back and forth effortlessly again, just finished putting the last screw back in (I'm not used to working on such small things, at least not without a microscope!) and it all seems good again!