87 Dakota 3.9l Questions

[87_dakota_man]

Hello all!

First I would just like to say that I did a thorough search of the whole automotiveforums site and didn't find the answer to my question, so I created a new account to ask this question. Couldn't use my old username because that would be embarassing (canadiancivic....what was I thinking buying that car?).
Anyways, here's a little history on the truck to date. Bought it May of last year for a really good price. Body is beautiful as well as most the mechanical parts. It's got the carbeurated 3.9 V6, which although lacking in power has been pretty reliable.
So, in Ausgust last year I drove the car from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to Ontario, Canada (about 22 hours of driving). Before I left I did a typical tune up. You know, oil and filter change, new rotor, cap, plugs and wires, new fuel filter, and air filter etc. After changing the fuel filter, the float in the carbeurator got stuck and the truck would not start for me. I did get it going, but I was pretty sure I just about burnt up the starter doing it.
So, it made it Ontario, and predictably, the starter crapped out on me. So, I took it to the shop down the road and got them to put a salvage yard starter in it for me since I just didn't have the time to do it myself. It worked again for a little while, but I was having different problems after that. First of all, when it was wet or raining out, the truck would sputter and stall when I pulled up to a stop light, but the problem would cease after it had been running for a bout 20 minutes. Since it was running (sort of) and I was in school full time, I just kind of put up with it until I could get a chance to diagnose the problem. I wasn't given the chance however since the truck wouldn't start after it stalled at a stoplight one day. This was in January and it's been sitting in my yard since then.
Now that the weather is nice, I'm finally getting back to work on it. So, looking back on the problems I was having, I decided that the distributor might have been the culprit of the stalling in the rain thing. Made sense. So, I went to a salvage yard and picked up a distributor. Got that in, but it still wouldn't start. I knew I needed another starter because the starter motor was spinning but not cranking the engine. So, today I got the tools out and bought a remanufactured starter. Got the thing off and everything, but can't get it out of the enigine bay because of the stupid steering shaft. I know I have to disconnect the steering shaft coupling from the steering gear, since the almighty Haynes manual tells me so. It doesn't tell me how to do it though.
I'm afraid of doing anything because I've already had to replace the steering rack and don't feel like getting into that kind of mess again. So I'm kind of at a stand still. All I need to do is move the steering shaft and I'll be good to go.
So, here are my questions:

1. Does the sputtering and stalling sound like the distributor? Someone I was talking to at school said it might be the ignition module.

2. How in the blazes do I take the steering shaft coupling of of the steering gear?

3. Not related to problems: Does anyone know where I can get a carbeurator rebuild kit for that carbeurator? I have had no luck finding one online.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give.

Cheers,
Jeremy