Struggling to remove lower unit on Evinrude 30hp

[Jezza668]

Hey guys, I've watched a ton of videos on this removal but am having an incredibly painful time On all the videos the bolt attached to the shaft seems to slide off, mine will not budge and I cannot remove the lower unit without doing so.

The nut im referring to is the right on the photo

 

[flyingscott]

Slide the nut up the shaft to reveal a plastic keeper. You may have to scrape the paint off of the shaft but it will go. Take the plastic keeper off with a pick or small screwdriver. The keeper is slotted and will come off.

 

[Jezza668]

There was a keeper under the sleeve on the left side of the photo that I had removed, is there supposed to be 2 keepers ?

 

[Jezza668]

Mateee, there was 2 sleeves, turns out I had removed the wrong one the entire time, legend!

 

[flyingscott]

Yes there are 2 keepers, You leave the bottom keeper and nut on. The upper screw has it's own keeper ,take it and the nut off and the shift shaft will slide through the water pump housing