I have no experience of your yashica, except that it soulds like a more general cleaning and lubrication of the winding mechanism is in order.
To take leatherette off, I usually slip a hobby knife or small screwdriver under an edge and lift it up to get purchase, then carefully peel it off. It can tear easily, especially in spots where there are cutouts, so work very slowly and carefully, and use your screwdriver or knife blade to separate it from the metal if necessary. On older cameras it invariably won't stick down again. I remove the old adhesive (just rubbing it with your thumb is usually sufficient to get the adhesive off) and put fresh double sided tape on.
Microtools sell
tape specially for the purpose. It's a little pricy, but it's a big roll that lasts forever. Added to that, it's probably the same stuff the manufacturer used to put the leatherette on in the first place, so as long as it's clean and not torn, it'll look like new.
Good luck!
