I had a hot minute to start to dig into it, and discovered that the manual shows that I need a special tool to take the rocker shaft out, so I can take the carrier plate off. the 'special' tool appears to be a simple bolt through a dowel. Any feedback on this is appreciated.
Also, the shaft that the shifter peddle connects to (the part with the splines, sorry, I'm using the parts diagram from Hitchcocks and for whatever reason, they don't have that part . maybe because mine is a converted 5 speed?) spins in it's housing. Sorry so vague, I'll see if I can post a picture when my IT guy (13 year old son) gets home