are you sure you have to remove the whole coupling and p shaft? can't you just remove the propeller, then press out the Cutless? if you really need to remove that shaft, my first piece of advice is to figure out what kind of coupling you have , contact the coupling manufacturer and get instructions on how to separate the coupling. for example on the Centa coupling , there were visible bolt - heads that were not budging. there were smaller jackbolts , hidden under plastic plugs, that were the mechanism to make the coupling come apart. i called Centa and they told me this, spent time on the phone with me and sent some nice diagrams too. Look up Centa and Vetus couplers on the internet and see how the designs work to take apart the coupling. following manufacturer instructions, I did not have to PB Blast anything to get my coupler bolts apart. ( i had to dissemble the coupling to remove the whole P shaft , because my p shaft had been been bent by a careless travelift operator.. so i needed to put in a whole new new p shaft. ) the shaft alone cost $650 ... i bought the top of line Cutless bearing tool then sold it at my cost after i finished the job. I sold it to a bright young independent boat yard mechanic by telling him how many Cutless bearing jobs he could do (3 an hour) with the fancy tool i was selling. i also retained lifetime borrow rights to my Strut Pro Cutless removal tool , which is indeed a beautiful piece of machinery.