Hey, I'm a newbie on this forum and want to say tons of great knowlegde here. I would.like to chime in as I am a proud new 89 mariah owner and am currently going through a full resto.my engine and trans are totally out of the boat. There is four bolts holding the drive shaft coupler to the trans coupler if.you remove those you can loosen the gland packing nut around the shaft and literally slide the shaft aft out of the way to make life a little easier. But rember alignment is critical after your rebuild is done