88 Thru Trac II Shaft Packing

I am in the process of trying to change the shaft packing in the boat but ran into a road block. There is a stainless steel ring that does not allow the nut to slide far enough forward to get to the packing. It looks like it can be loosened by the set screws, but the shaft feels a little bigger which might not allow it to slide forward. The set screws are also stripped and very rusted which will take a little bit of work to get loose if required. Any advise?

that ring kinda looks like one from a dripless set-up. if so, those can be real tough to get off. i wonder if someone couldn't and just left it there?

all that stuff looks nice and rusty, too. it doesn't really look like there's much room, but maybe you can get some extra room to work with by releasing the hose clamps on the end that goes out the hull. you don't need that much.

playing with the coupler end doesn't look like fun at all and you won't get anywhere without getting the ring to move.