Ft-200 conundrum

I thought I would seek help from the accumulated knowledge of the interweb concerning a real poser regarding my FT-200.

New bearing carrier with good gears and dog rings. Set up by professional. Would not stay in 3rd gear. When I tried to hold it in 3rd and touched the throttle it kicked out of 3rd violently, shearing the cotter pin on the pinion shaft nut. (yes, it had been torqued properly and it was a heavy duty pin.)

Fast forward to today. Tearing the box apart I can not remove the bearing carrier. All nuts removed, shift linkage removed, nothing holding it together. Bearing carrier will move about .750" then stops. Definitely being held by something . . . . but what. Even with both pinion shaft and layshaft nuts removed it will not come off. Pull it back up and all gears can be selected as per normal. Try to remove it to the .750" gap and none of the gears can be selected. Something is keeping the bearing carrier from exiting the case. With both nuts removed there should be nothing holding it together and I should be able to pull it off normally.

Stuck first/reverse slider on the hub? Fork catching on something? There is (what I consider) a lot of axial play in the pinion shaft when you try to separate the two.

Anyone seen anything like this before? Dave? Phil? Inquiring minds want to know. Only suggestion I have had that makes sense is to remove the left side plate, take out the crown wheel, and tap the pinion out of the bearing and hopefully free up whatever is holding the beast together.

I will entertain any and all suggestions.

Thanks,