Steering Pivot Support Thrust Washer Addition

[whitebunnyflock]

Two years ago I took the leg off the boat and replaced anything and everything in the name of preventative maintenance (the bellows and greasing lots of differnent things). When I put it back together i squished and wrecked the thrust washers against the steering support (https://www.marinepartseurope.com/en/volvo-penta-explodedview-7746040-44-6233.aspx part 31). The thrust washers depicted by part 6 on this website: https://www.marinepartseurope.com/en/volvo-penta-explodedview-7746040-44-8015.aspx
I asked a boat mechanic to put these back in which apparently only got partly done. The bottom two thrust washers are in but not the top single thrust washer against the pivot housing. So obviously I would like to have all the thrust washers in place for this boating season.

My initial reaction was to remove the leg and the steering support bracket (the one on the bottom with the three bolts in it and the two shafts coming up as in the first website listed above). But i was thinking I could get away with supporting the leg with my dolly and then just removing that bracket to get all the thrust washers back in place. Is this a bad idea? I was hoping to save time but i guess the risk would be that I can't get the leg where it needs to be?

thanks for any advice

 

[whitebunnyflock]

as an answer to my own question: I rested the leg on some wood, was able to remove that steering support plate and put in the thrust washers without actually removing the leg.....