Mercury 3.5 hp 4 stroke water pump install

[goosemasterkl]

I put in a new water pump kit on my friends Mercury 3.5 hp 4 stroke and I succeeded on that part but now I'm having problems with putting the shaft with lower unit back up in the housing. I got the shaft started up in the motor splines once but the water tube that goes in the water pump wasn't in and when I backed it out a little to try and put that in I haven't been able to get it up in the motor splines yet. Is there any tricks or secrets on trying to get all this back where it should go? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.