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 wass 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 assume 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tb33, I edited my post I was thinking it might've been replaced by a 10 or 12 bolt but I realized I misworded my post.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 arsenal 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 mass 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 assure 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 .
The Jalopy Journal
