[OMC-Boats] Upper Unit Worm Gear Steering Disassembly

I've got a 1970 Evinrude Explorer with the 155 hp V-6 and OMC five-bolt
electric shift sterndrive. I'm in the midst of doing a upper gear seal job
(it's been leaking for years) and am having trouble getting the worm gear
steering shaft out. Has anyone on the list ever done this?

I've got the spur gear off the front and the shaft retainer bracket off the
back, but I can't get the shaft retainer itself out. I've got a couple
close-up photos of it here:
   https://picasaweb.google.com/ethan.brodsky/2012BoatRebuild#5687226168860926066
   https://picasaweb.google.com/ethan.brodsky/2012BoatRebuild#5687226242072410754

The retainer appears to be threaded and has a unusual cap on it
that appears to be meant to be turned with a special tool, which I don't
have. My Clymer manual:
   https://picasaweb.google.com/ethan.brodsky/2012BoatRebuild#5687226897147036882
specifies to remove it using a breaker bar and OMC special tool 909075.
I've tried doing this with a 3/8" open-ended wrench and a hammer, and a 18"
crescent wrench and a hammer, plus the usual penetrating old and torching
on it for a while, but it won't budge. I haven't been able to find the
special tool (presumably a socket) anywhere and I'm inclined just to leave
this as is rather than beating on it until I break something, as it appears
that the seals are both accessible without removing this, as shown in the
SELOC manual here:
   https://picasaweb.google.com/ethan.brodsky/2012BoatRebuild#5687229698798016674
The SELOC manual, which I usually prefer for all repairs, omits nearly the
entire section on servicing the worm gear steering assembly - it appears
they accidentally dropped the text during editing. The figure is from the
1978 and later section, but appears to be correct.

Notable, my OMC dealer service manual (HUFM-19E), which is supposedly
matched exactly to my boat, shows a different retainer assembly:
   https://picasaweb.google.com/ethan.brodsky/2012BoatRebuild#5687226807450069378
that uses two snap rings and no retainer bracket. This seems to imply that
my outdrive is not original, something I have suspected for a long time but
never been sure of. My outdrive is marked "383544: 120-155 hp". Does
anybody know what year that is for?

Also, as long as I'm posting this, has anybody had their upper gearcase
bearing housing assembly apart? It looks like it requires a special tool
to hold the lower spline in place while the upper nut is removed, a press
to remove the old seals, possibly some other special tools for pushing the
new seals in, plus a new nut and some seals and shims. I'm assuming it
wouldn't have to be reshimmed if the same parts were used, so the special
tools for shimming wouldn't be necessary. I've got an automotive seal
installer set that I'm guessing would work and could probably make a tool
to hold the space in place by cutting up my old upper water pump shaft and
welding it to a socket, but I'm thinking this is still not all worth the
trouble. Do the shaft seals in the bearing carrier ever leak? I'll
probably try servicing everything else and reassembling and pressure
testing it before I bother with this.

Ethan

-- 
<a href="http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~brodskye/"> Ethan Brodsky </a>