actually fixing the shaft in place - I maybe a little too cautious, but there is no real magic to how the shaft is mounted in the motor works itself.

I've owned several used Champions over the years and never had to resort to prying the body off the shaft - even tough ones I wrapped with a towel to grab the 'blade' and pulled really hard.

If it is indeed that tough to pull off it would be wiser to unbolt the chassis so that oy can actually fix the shaft from moving.