Clutch Quadrant Pawl's "Slide-Out" Room?

I don't seem to have enough clearance room to slide out the old plastic Pawl off its shaft on my '87 5.0 GT. (The Pawl is part of the OEM plastic Clutch Quadrant). What am I missing?
* The lack of clearance is due to a welded body-colored brace that faces the ends of two shafts that serve as a mount for the clutch quadrant & Pawl. This clearance-robbing brace is apparently is not present on model years 1994 and thereafter.
* User Name "Foured Mustang" detailed the same problem in his 2008 post I see. However, it is not clear to me from his posts how he eventually overcame the clearance problem.
** Please, I'd appreciate suggestions on how to
(1) Get enough clearance to slide the OEM quadrant Pawl off and...
(2) Get enough clearance to slide a new Maximum Motorsports clutch quadrant onto the shafts as a replacement.
THanks.

Thanks JRichker.
Now, what will be the trick to slide on the new Maximum Motorsports quadrant? Anyone?

MM instruction sheet says to simply "Start the Quadrant onto the Quadrant Shaft about 1/8”...." Really, no clearance problem?

For everyone else, JR is referring to this salient point from his URL link:
" What you need to do next is to depress the clutch pedal all the way to the floor. With the clutch pedal depressed to the floor, simply twist the small pawl around on the shaft and it'll simply slide off. Note that the spring is still poking through the arm in the pawl. If you have difficulty, you can try pushing on the part that pokes through the plastic pawl. this will help push the spring away from the pawl. This is really all that needs to be done. Unhook the spring from the bracket, floor the clutch pedal, twist the pawl on the shaft and slide it off and out."

Got OEM Quadrant Out In Pieces

Yes. After reading the recommended links and articles from various magazines, it became obvious that I had to disassemble the OEM pawl & quadrant piece by piece while it's on the shaft. It took some doing - especially when I had to get the torsion spring disengaged from all the plastic pieces. After I got the spring separated, the rest was easy. The MM unit went in so much easier.
Thanks.