I you do want to have a try at wrestling of the belt gear, take a look at reply 53 of my 72 DutchWagon rolling resto post (I don't know how to make a link to a certain post reply). I just used a steering wheel puller and two pieces of angle iron cut to fit, and with a tiny lip bend at the bottom, to just catch behind the gear. Soak in WD40 for a day or so. Don't put any stress on the surrounding cover, it's aluminum and will break.