Half shaft removal, what the berk am I missing?

1998 Subaru Forester. Front passenger side half shaft. Neeeds to come off so I can replace the bearing/hub/ball joint complex with the one I rebuilt off the car. 

Hit it with plenty of hammers to start. Then a three jaw puller and fire. 

Then more and bigger hammer. 

Then took the whole assembly off the car and put it in the press until I'm at the "something is going to break and send me to the hospital" point. 

Stopped just short of cutting the knuckle off the bearing, then the bearing off the hub, then the hub off the axle. Unfortunately the snap ring that holds the bearing race in is blocked by the axle. 

Am I missing something here? The drivers side came apart with a few sharp taps of a hammer. I'm stumped. 

Let it soak with a 50/50 mix acetone and ATF.

do you have an air hammer? Would be something worth trying.

Also, maybe try putting the nut back on and torque it down hard, maybe you can get the axle to move in a bit just to break loose.

I've been where you are. I've had the whole damn thing in the press just like you do. And it finally gave and popped out, just when I thought something was about to kill me. Mine was a mazda MX6.  Rust sucks. 

My suggestion would be a cheater bar to get yourself farther away from the press maybe off to the side,  so you don't feel so vulnerable and continue adding force. 

A little trick an old tech showed me.  Get it hot.  Not glowing hot, just before it starts to glow.  Then stab a candle on the shaft where it meets the hub.  The melting wax makes for a pretty awesome wicking penetrating oil.  Worked for a Tercel that was fighting with me.  Also works great on exhaust bolts.

I also agree with the air hammer idea.  Put it in the press with a fair amount of pressure on it.  Use the air hammer somewhere near the seizing and I'll bet that will do it.

Air hammer.  This happened to me, its like we're following the same flow chart.  Next you're going to put the nut back on, beat the hell out of it, and booger the threads enough that you need to file them back to shape.  Then you're going to take the whole assembly and $20 to whatever friendly shop will spend 30 seconds with a Snap On air hammer and push it out.  

You're welcome.

BTDT on a Miata axle, wound up having to decide whether to save the axle or the upright because there was no way they were coming apart with both of them still functional.  The air hammer got it out in the end, but it mangled up the axle enough that I couldn't reuse it.

It's possible to snap parts off the casting by using a bigger press.

This video is kind of amazing to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFScIV92ODE

If it's properly rusted and stuck, I have ended up using a hot wrench to get rid of hub and bearing. If you pay attention, you won't melt the CV boot.

Sometimes a trip to the pic n pull for the correct corner of the car is easiest.

I spent 3 days on a front hub on a Jeep. Heat, cool, puller, heat, cool, lube... 

Finally ran the ran the puller down tight and left it. Every time I walked by it, I would tighten the puller a little and smack it with the sledge. Day three, about 10 am, it flew apart. Sounded like a gunshot. Scared the crap out of me.

Sometimes patience works. 

I had a similar issue once.  Even the air hammer on the right wouldn't do the job...

I fought with this for too long on a Passat  with my brother. One side came off with a few taps but the passenger side laughed at everything we threw at it. Bought a new hub and shaft and called it a day.

Since you have it upright in the press like that, i would fill it up with a small pool of penetrant of your choice. Another thing i do on pretty much anything that needs a pressing tool is load it up and then smack it with a hammer, preferably in the same direction your pressing force is in, but almost anywhere is better than nothing. In your situation i would probably load the press up real good and start smacking around the work piece with a hammer. If that doesn't work and you're willing to write it off anyway i would definitely consider just setting up a little flak shield between you and the press (plywood, shop couch cushions, you'll figure out something) and then just crank on the press. If you run out of jack on the press, i would then take that sledge and smack directly down onto the press at the top beam where the bottle jack is pressing against. It's practically normal for old suspension pieces to require pressing AND hammering simultaneously, although i go after it as a first resort anyway since i never seem to have to use the pressing tool as hard as i would have to without the hammer action. I would do a lot of things before i gave up, but you can take your pick as long as you come back and post something entertaining about it. 

+1 on the hammering while under pressure. The vibration of the hammer causes microscopic movement, which can sooner or later be enough. Also, penetrating lube + pressure + hammer. What the hell, + fire, too. :)

“Inboard” driver side on the integra never wants to come out. After bending/breaking multiple pry-bars, finally figured out air chisel + pickle fork gets it out in 2 seconds.

It's been extensively and eagerly tapped while under pressure. I'm hesitant to go buy an air hammer, as I'm not sure I have sufficient air to make it useful. For today I've been banned from getting gross and hurting myself as I have a wedding to attend in the afternoon, but I did load the whole assembly back in the press and have it soaking with dangerous amounts of pressure on it. Either it'll pop as I add pressure through today or I'll cut the knuckle off tomorrow. Saving the half shaft is my priority at this point as the new knuckle is on the car and it turns out that it will drive forward with only three driven wheels. Neat. 

Thanks for all of the help and advice. I'll either figure it out or break stuff trying. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Definitely try the candle trick. Heat it, wax it and let it cool, come back later and it should be more agreeable. Doing this in the press should be fine.

I think you are gonna want more press.  We use the 50 ton at work and they still put up a fight.  

The whole - let it sit with a load on it - is a good suggestion

I would try to keep the heat off of the shaft though.  You would want the hub to expand more than the shaft and heating the shaft would do the opposite. 

Leaving constant pressure while doing other things can lead to good things happening too 

Done. Thanks for all the advice. Much destruction to save a $36 axle. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Holy moly. I'm glad mine came out relatively trouble free with just a small are hammer.

Hi, my name is Mazdeuce.  I don't berkeley around.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Done. Thanks for all the advice. Much destruction to save a $36 axle. 

 

I am now reading this in a Chuck Norris voice. 

Just call him Charles. 

Charles E Hacker III.

aka, Chop Chop.

Don't mess with me Subaru, I fixed an R63! You don't rate!