Rather than a “steady” pull, I have seen mechanics use a brake drum on backwards on the studs and try to get the same effect as a SLIDING hammer by throwing the brake drum or chain with a heavy object to the outside of the loose held lug nuts to “pop” the axle loose and then free from its stuck position. I have seen this work out a few times.Good luck!
It may sound crazy but a chain through a wheel/tire with the chain bolted to the axle has worked for me. Roll the tire and it yanks it like a slide hammer would.
With the axle retaining T bolts out you should be able to put a punch through from the back side.Line up on the back of the axle flange,and tap it with a hammer.Go from side to side,and see if it will walk the bearing out of the housing.
I had one stuck tight as a drum with the housing off the car. I ended up trying a slide hammer, banging the end of the axle through the other side (a jack handle w*** long enough), and prying back and forth with a screwdriver, until I could get a nut between the housing end and the bearing retainer. Then I threaded a bolt through that nut and against the housing end, and tightened up until the axle finally came out.
At the risk of stating the obvious I can't quite tell if thats a stock 55-57 rear there. I ***ume you already pulled the rear cover and removed the c clips from the ends of the axles if its a non stock rear.
tb33, I edited my post I was thinking it might've been replaced by a 10 or 12 bolt but I realized I misworded my post.
Some good suggestions here, that come-along and a steady pull most times will just not work. It's going to take some shock value to break it loose...
a little penetrating oil, some strategic tapping and more slide hammer broke it loose today during the Daytona rain delay. Hooah.
In my ****nal of tools are several sizes of slide hammers. Slide hammers come in sizes , just like wrenches. How effective a slide hammer is, is determined by the relation of the hammer’s size to the size of what you need to remove. A lot of the impact of a small , dent puller, slide hammer would be absorbed by the m*** of the axle. The largest slide hammer I ever made was four+ft long out of 1 inch rod stock and had a differential out of a two ton truck for a slide! I ***ure you that would have removed that axle in one hit! Lol Bones
About 1971 I swapped the 3.08's in my 57 Chevy with 4.11's, I borrowed my friends' axle slide puller, a real H.D. homemade unit, completely broke the head off of it. I'm guessing it had never been pulled apart before.
Had to get a end out of a floating axle 1 ton rear that had broke off in the spider gear. Took out the other axle, took a piece of 3/4" steel water pipe,ran it through that side and drove the broken piece out.
I have a 4 foot section of drive shaft tube full of sand that I have used a time or 2. I replace the original slide on my largest slide hammer with it. Only once has it taken 2 hits to get an axle out. Glad you got it out Shutt.
That might work if you had a spool or a Detroit locker. Cross shaft would be in the way in a regular differential.
Got a point there. I don't know how that Ford truck rear was set up, it was in a fork lift, but there wasn't a cross pin. I don't think it had a spool, because when one drive wheel would come off the ground, it would spin. Maybe floating axle diffs are different? I dunno....
All the floaters I have worked on had cross pinned 4 spider gears . But that is not the question , the shock way is your answer to removing the stuck axle . The biggest slide hammer you can get your hands on as suggested a I bet in two slams it flying across the floor . Just be careful it’s easy to be in a terrible pin point with a slide hammer .
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