Axle shaft won't budge

That's a tough one. Doesn't matter if the spacers are rusted to the shaft, the shaft should still pull out of the bearing inner races. More likely the shaft is rusted to the ball bearing inner race. The seal on that end is prone to leakage (rain water), causing rusting of the bearing.

A big hammer is probably going to (already has) bung up the axle threads. You might fit a nut over the threads but I don't know if that will absorb enough of the blows.

The big (humongous) 2-arm puller may be the best bet, short of removing the entire trailing arm and taking it to the hydraulic press.

You can't get the bearing Circlip out with the axle flange in the way and I don't see any way to use the blue wrench (torch).

Speedy Jim

Jim,

Thanks for the tips, I haven't bung up the threads yet...

Just one question though: How would I attach the puller? It would seem that there would have to be something for the middle screw/bolt to push on, so if you hook it up on the inside to pull the shaft out, it wouldn't work.....however, do you mean that you would use the puller to PUSH the shaft off from the outside, by placing the two arms against the bearing housing and the screw on the axle shaft? This may work...

I assume its pretty difficult to remove the trailing arm? Seems like it could be a big mess.

Dane '69 Bug '63 Bug

Speedy Jim wrote:

Yes, that's the idea. It needs to be a beefy puller.

Yep! I would avoid it if at all possible.