Art, the hose is available. Often instead of replacing the shaft due to wear at the shaft seal it is easier to shorten or lengthen the hose to place the seal on a part of the shaft that is not worn.
Once the trans coupling is loose the shaft should slide out with a bit of coaxing and/or gentle tapping on the prop hub with a piece of wood and a hammer to get it loose.
The strut bearing can be pressed out with a piece of threaded rod and some ingenuity. There are a few links on this site that showed the process very well.
Be sure to back off the packing gland so the shaft is not being held by the groove the seal has created with wear.
Dave Neptune
