72 1150 lower unit rebuild help

[72GT160]

Ok, my "story". end of season had only forward gear, couldn't get out of gear. Put in storage. Pulled out of storage and found drain plug must have come out in lake then sat out in cold all winter, gears froze, rust. Pulled lower unit. Got bearing carrier out, cleaned up surface rust. Ordered all seals, o-rings and related parts and a nettle bearing that rusted up. Everything moves freely now. Sooo, a buddy convinced me to just take it ALL apart and replace all the bearings. Which brings me here. I need to remove drive-shaft so i can replace those bearings along with forward gear bearings as well. How can I remove the pinion nut without special tools and how do I set the proper backlash on re-assembly?

Thanks.

 

[72GT160]

Well, no special tools for removal. Clamped shaft in vise (designed to hold pipe, etc.), then put vice grip on toothed end of shaft for extra grip and loosened pinion nut. While still in vise used soft dead blow hammer and gently hit the case and shaft came right out. Had to use slide hammer and some other tricks up my sleeve to get all the bearings out and was successful in not damaging anything, yeah! Assembled forward gear and driveshaft with pinion, used existing shims and checked lash. Was within .001 of spec... I can live with that. If anyone needs shims, I have some. Not easy to get, but not impossible either. Rest of assembly went smooth, now I just need to put back on motor!