on my '65 coronet I've had the shaft out a couple of times. I've tapped from the bottom up and I've tapped the shaft thru the bearing top to bottom. didn't seem to make much difference. the bearing on mine was not a tight fit and some "sensible" tapping would easily separate the shaft from the bearing. if your doing a column rebuild it may be easier to just do it all on a bench. the column on '65 didn't have a bottom bearing like my '69 and I did have some delron shaft supports made to fit in the of the column. the only factory thing that supported the shaft at the bottom of the column was a thin plastic type washer. either way it shouldn't be difficult with a little patience.