The YJ has a circlip inside the front of the housing (kinda fun to get to, a LOT of brake cleaner to see it, my friend). The splined end, that is. However, the bowl SHOULD still come off with that still in place. The shaft would simply remain in the suction housing.
Could be simple vacuum giving you fits. Remove the nozzle, or at least, remove the zerk fitting clear up inside there. If it's a really bad bearing in the bowl and/or shaft, gonna take some wiggling and hammerng to get it off. Idea....... I did one here was to remove the zerk, put in an air hose fitting and hooked up the compressor. Bowl popped right off! Almost ballistical

Ray
I just noticed the water pipe part of that......is this the Golden Eagle Version? Probably not, and yes the pipe should be removed regardless.