Can't take clutch lever off SB 14 1/2

[Seuss54]

Title says it all, I'm following the restoration guide by Illion Industries to cleanup my new (to me) 14 1/2 lathe and I've gotten as far as taking apart the apron but I can't seem to get the clutch lever off. The guide says to hold on to the shaft from the rear of the apron but the shaft has a free spinning washer on it so I can't actually grab on to it. I tried cranking down engaging the clutch to see if i could get the washer to lock to the shaft but even with a pair of vice grips I couldn't get them to stick. is my clutch lever stuck? any ideas on how I can get this darn thing off?

 

[Seuss54]

Was able to get it off, unfortunately had to get a friend to weld a nut on the end so we could get a grip. There was no way it was coming off otherwise it took to large men wrenching on it to actually undo it. Turns out the shaft the clutch lever screws on to may be a reproduction of the originally and they snapped the end off so when it got put back on it just destroyed the threads of the clutch lever. Was able to get the threads cleaned up enough that it should not continue to require so much torque to get on and off.