Removing body lift - 95 Tacoma - Advice?

Sorry in advance for the long post below
I'm in the process of removing a 3" body lift that the previous owner had installed, and I'm stuck mainly in one area. This is on a 95 extended cab. I have removed all the 3" pucks (6) on the cab, and have replaced all the body mounts (thanks to 4Crawler).
I've removed the extended front bumper brackets, along w/ the extended brackets on the radiator, so everything was going decently smooth, until I got to the steering shaft extension.
It has a set screw in it, and looks alot like the pictures of a performance accessories lift kit shaft extension, and it wasn't the block that bolted to the top of the rag joint. I got the shaft up & out of the rag joint coupler, but I can't get the extension itself off of the steering shaft. I've soaked it with PB blaster, tried to spread it open some (after the set screw was removed), beat on it, etc... but it's being ornery. It's way too long once the cab is set back down, so it has to come off. I thought I would take the steering shaft out, so I could get to it better, but after 30 minutes of taking all this stuff loose under the dash, I can't even figure out how the shaft can come out w/o removing the whole column? I've attached a picture - the circled part is the top of the extension, and the one kind of in the rectangle, is the rag joint coupler.

ANY advice and/or ideas on how to remove this piece would be greatly appreciated!

PS - I tried raising my voice and swearing at it, but that didn't work either - and I almost thought I heard it laughing at me!

 

Went and looked at mine and the only thing holding mine is an allen key bold on the piece you have circled ? Not sure why yours wont budge

 

Yeah, this one had the allen key bolt too - I have taken it completely out - and thanks for looking at yours.

 

I just did the same thing last fall. 3" body lift removed.

I did the same thing you did. Try and spread it more if you can. I used a large flat head screwdriver and tapped it apart. You could also put some heat on it. Try a hand held propane torch for a minute and see if that helps. But be careful NOT to damage the threads.

Make sure when you put the shaft back together that it aligns with the threads. Or else you might damage the threads again. And slowly lower on the female end

 

I'll give that a try - I had thought about giving it some heat, but I had never had luck w/ a propane torch - and I'm not lucky enough to have an acetylene torch (possibly could borrow one if needed).

By chance, since you say you had removed your body lift also, did you run across trouble on the bed bolts too? The front 4 bolts loosened about an 1/8 inch or so, now all they do is spin - won't tighten or loosen - I figure I have to cut a little access hole to the nuts from the top of the bed or something - which I don't mind, as the bed is a little rough anyhow and will be covered by a bed liner...

 

I didnt have any trouble with my bed bolts but i heard there was just a fixed nut inside the bed. I believe you can access the nut from the side. The nuts sits inside a c channel that runs perpendicular to the bed. They also might be sitting inside of a notch - maybe try pulling down or pushing up when loosening?

 

^^^ Yeah use some heat expand the metal, maybe just a heat gun will work.

 

Yeah, the two rear most bed nuts are exposed & accessible on mine, but the front 4 nuts are enclosed in that c channel support rib thingy - I didn't see any access to them though, but I may have overlooked it.
Did you have any problems w/ your gas filler tube, did you just shorten the rubber hoses that had spliced it?

Sorry for all the questions ^^^

 

Haha your bringing back bad memories.

Yeah the gas filler tube was another pain in the ass. I cut it back 3" the first time, then had to cut it again several times until it fit. There isnt much room up in there.