Best Way to remove Cutless bearing Albin 27 FC

[GottaCruise]

Ok all you drivetrain experts out there. Here's a question for you. What is the best way to remove the cutless bearing on an Albin 27 FC? We recently re powered with a Beta 50. In the process we removed the shaft and discovered significant pitting on the shaft section that would be inside the stuffing box. I mean pretty bad pitting. Additionally, there is grooving in the area where the shaft passes through the cutless bearing. We decided to bite the bullet and got a brand new shaft (1,5 inches diam and a tad over 79 inches long). Of course we are going to replace the cutless bearing too. It had significant enough wear that we had alittle clunkity clunk when you pushed on prop and shaft. There are oodles of youtube videos and fancy tools (both manual and hydraulic) that show and work with cutless bearings on P struts for sailboats, but NONE that I could find that talks about what you do with a blind setup such as on the Albin. Don't want to take of the entire stern tube assembly as I feel that could be a can of worms at this point. Don't want to use a hacksaw to cut through the bearing and roll/pry it out as I feel the likelihood of damaging the bronze tube is high. And also how to get the new one in once the old one is out. Sure pounding in is an option, but there are countless horror stories and pictures of people bashing the end of the bearing up which is not good.

Any experienced hands out there on this? suggestions?

Actually as I write, it came to me that since my new duramax bearing is a little long to begin with (6 inches vs 5.25 for the one that is in there), that I could use the pound it in technique and just cut off the excess (and the damage) once it is 5.25 inches in.... ( i was going to cut it first, but now maybe ...)

[GottaCruise]

Just to add to the above, the bronze housing has two holes, one on either side that appear to be drilled through the cutless bearing as well. A lot of posts on (other) forums talk about grub screws etc to be used to prevent bearing rotation. The Albin design appears to be unique in this regard. (no grub screws and drilled holes through the cutless bearing. Everyone says that it is for letting water in to the bearing. Why don't other implementations on other boats have that design as well? Just asking for re assurance and curiousity.