JOE power head removal HELP

[Romilius]

" I have a johnson 150 v6 salt water outboard and im having great difficulty seperating the head from the midhousing to renew piston and rings, I have power head striped down, all studs and bolts removed and the gear linkage is disconnected.The seal is broken between the powerhead and the midhousing but it won't seperate!,what is normal procedure for seperation ?,am i not applying enough force? or am Ioverlooking something, any help with this would be greatly appreciated as it is really holding me up. thanks in advance. "

[joereeves]

"Romilius.... Remove the lower unit retaining bolts, then attempt to remove the powerhead, moving it up and down. If the lower unit moves up and down also, the driveshaft splines are frozen within the crankshaft splines. If which case, that's a mess! Sometimes one can free the splines by yanking the powerhead upwards, then having the skeg of the lower unit supported so that it can't drop, force the powerhead back down, gradually freeing the splines. Sometimes, the driveshaft has to be cut. Spraying penatrating oil at the splines might help. Sorry to say there's really no set cure.

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