Pete, how do the welds look on the clutch release forks themselves? Are they welded fully, or are they tack-welded on the insides and outsides of the contact surface?
I've heard recommendations in the past that those forks are the weak points on later clutch assemblies, and the frequent suggestion is to find the earliest clutch thrust bearing assembly you can which fits. Do you happen to know where your transaxle case came from? What year?
If you haven't taken the old arm off yet, that whole piece should be held onto the clutch fork by splines on a shaft which passes into the bell-housing from outside.
The outer metal arm will come off with a little elbow grease, or maybe a little uneven pressure at the gap. It might take a splitter-tool (like for ball joints -- sorry; don't know the right tool name); just avoid using the bell-housing as a lever.
The (brass-bronze-whatever) yellow-metal sleeve that's still stuck on there has a screw holding it in place. Hang on to that thing, the screw and remember to re-install them when you've got your new parts in-hand.
I know from my own experience that you have to manipulate the fork itself a bunch of times to get those yellow-metal parts to come out/off, even after you remove the screw.
It's possible -- entirely possible -- that I'm doing that stuff out of order, but it's what worked for me when I had to do it. I hope it goes easier for you than it did for me.
Good luck!
