Hoping there are some clever mechanics out there that have solved this one already and have a recommendation (Don Weed I'm hoping you'll read this!)

S/N: 1B498673

The single piece driveshaft snapped right in the middle of the lower roller bearing assembly (shaft seal failed and water entered the LU housing).

So the standard procedure of removing the pinion nut clearly won't work as I can't grab what's left of the shaft as its buried down inside the case.

The best idea I've come up to remove the pinion nut is to attempt to rotate the pinion gear with a long punch and hammer while holding the pinion nut in place with the mercury pinion nut tool (#91-61067T03) and a block of hardwood shaped to support the propshaft and the pinion nut tool placed inside the case.

Failing this I've thought about drilling a large hole in what remains of the driveshaft and putting in a large (and long) easy out to rotate the shaft. But this is obviously a huge amount of work I would like to avoid, even though I have access to the tools.

I figure I can't be the first (nor the last) to have this problem, so figured I would throw it out there and see what else folks have come up with?

If the darn shaft had snapped just a tad lower it would have just fallen out when I removed the carrier and moved the prop shaft down... But of course that is not the way the universe seems to work :(

Thanks for any help and ideas!!

Cheers,
g