Re: steering yoke removal
Not sure you can remove it with the drive in place. But, from the outside, remove the steering helmet, likely you'll need to remove at least the upper section of the drive for clearance.
Inside the boat, remove the steering linkage, remove the clamp thru-bolt at the base of the steering arm. With some wiggling and some luck, maybe the fork will slide down and out.
On mine, I had to use a large screwdriver (with long ago gone plastic handle) driven into the split to wedge open the split section of the arm. That arm is quite beefy in that area, not easily spread. I drove the wedge until I could feel the arm wiggle a bit, then rocked the fork out. My drives were off, so no clearance issues there.
Replace the bushings and seal while you're in there, they're cheap...
When you re-install, have a helper push the fork all the way up, to compress the seal, while you tighten the clamping thru-bolt. That fork has a 'front and back', and it will go in backwards. :redface:
Hope this helps. I'm way too intimately familiar with this area of my 1973 project, maybe I can help if you need more information.
LS
