I was through this earlier this year. (62 Pontiac Parisienne). I could not remove the shaft without raising the steering column.Its close but was a no go. I decided to pull the whole column out at this point and replaced the lower bearing and installed a new coupler kit. The coupler is made by Saginaw who also made them for earlier jeeps. I got the complete kit ( coupler, square blocks, and boot) from Rock Auto under part no. OMIX-ADA 18018.04. ($30.79). If I remember correctly, the shop manual has you lift the column up to do this.
Jim
I first tried loosening the spline clamp on the rag joint to see if I could move it down enough while I also loosened the clamp on the coupler ( I think you have to take the bolts right out) and tried pushing it up but it wasn't enough to get the shaft out. Also just a heads up that there are thin factory alignment marks between these components to make sure that they are re-installed correctly. I had to wipe everything clean to see them.
