Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I have a few laying around here.

I finally figured out how to get it unlocked. This is going to come in useful in repairing LOOSE pins on other connectors. More about that later. I will also post some pix, etc., that might remove the mystery for somebody else.
If you missed it above, it was a broken (green) wire at pin 5 of the actuator plug.
Anyway, it is working like a champ now. Believe it or not, my wife told me she has not had AC like this in 2-3 years! We thought it was out of freon all this time, until I drove it last week. Now my wife will never let loose of her Red Sled.
Other stuff:

Getting too old for this.

Once you've done it the hard way once, it takes less than 20 minutes to change an actuator. Trust me. No cutting needed at all. Either way, I'm glad you get 'er.

Actually, it is of value. If you cannot move the airmix door with the rod still attached, then the typical cracked gear is NOT the problem. Especially since you noticed no movement in the door at all when running from max heat to max cool. If the gear were damaged to the point that you see NO movement in the door, then you would have been able to move the door manually with almost no effort.

I'm with willwren on this one...it'* not that bad going in from the bottom.