help pulling rear axle

[sgart80]

I looked up my axle code on fordification.com.
http://www.fordification.com/rearends-ford01.htm
the tag reads:
WBG-F2
3.89 4CA 301
It looks to be a 9" rear end. and as far as I know it's the original one from the factory.
Here are pictures of how the axle sits:
[albumimg]6197[/albumimg]
[albumimg]6202[/albumimg]
[albumimg]6201[/albumimg]
The passenger side axle slid out of the housing with minimal effort, I made a make-shift slide hammer with a 3 pound sledge tied to a 3 foot cable. It took all of six swings to break out that side and the bearing and the Axle seem to be in good condition. There was no rust on the inside of the housing, no binding on the differential, everything is in working order.
[albumimg]6199[/albumimg]
The driver's side axle was a different story. I hooked up the cable and swung about a dozen times, and then I swung harder. I swung so hard I broke my sledge hammer head right off the handle. I grabbed a small single hand weight lifting bar (maybe a foot long) and strapped 6lbs on one end of it and attached it to the cable, I swung until my arms had had enough. I ended up taking it over to my brother’s house and chained it up between two very stout tree trunks and proceeded to try to yank it out with a cable “come-a-long”. We put a lot of force on the come-a -long, so much so, I was afraid we were going to break it, with it strapped up to the trees, we heated up the housing where the bearing seats in and beat on it with a sledge hammer. No dice. Nothing moved.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. As far as I know once those 4 nuts are off the retaining plate, the axle should come out with a slide hammer. Are there any retaining clips or anything that I could be overlooking? All the information I’ve read says a slide hammer should be adequate for pulling an axle. I don’t really want to take it to a shop, and the only other thing I can think of is tying it to a tree, and the other end to my daily driver and pulling it that way, but I don’t want to break anything or have an axle come flying into a back window.
I’m out of ideas and I’m open for suggestions.

[36truck]

It's a 9' for sure only the 4 bolts holding it on & the brake line. Some of them are real stubborn to get out. You need to hold it solid then use a slide hammer with heat. Should come out that way.

[ICEMAN6166]

It's a 9' for sure only the 4 bolts holding it on & the brake line. Some of them are real stubborn to get out. You need to hold it solid then use a slide hammer with heat. Should come out that way.

i agree.
the tying to a tree with comealong only exerts pull, you need the slam hard effect.

heat plus slidehammer .

if you have it pulled tight with comealong/cable and hit the cable with the sledge and it comes loose it will travel a ways so do not stand in front of it while doing this or you will be sorry. also if you do this need to hit the line at least a couple feet away from the axle too close will not be enough force.

[BobbyFord]

WBG-F = Ford Truck '63-71 F100 3.89 9in NL 28 spline

[Ford4jack]

I have had good luck just bolting the wheel or an old rim on loosely and useing it as a short stroke slide hammer.
You can get a straight pull that way but get the nuts on a few turns so they dont pull the threads.

Sounds tight though and like mentioned heat works wonders.
Who knows someone might have used loctite on it or something.

[ezernut9mm]

i once used a 20' log chain and my wife's old 79 impala. came right out. (disclaimer: do not attempt this at home. professional driver on a closed course).

[sgart80]

Thanks for all the replies. I talked to a friend that works at a machine shop, he said they had a puller that ought to work. Hopefully I'll get it out there this weekend.

[TxSlick66]

Heat the housing really good and hot around the bearing O.D. Hit the slide hammer one real hard lick while it is hot. It will come...

[sgart80]

I finally got the axle out of the rear end this weekend. I was so happy, I've been fighting that thing for an eternity. I took the axle to my buddy who works at the machine shop, he took some scrap metal and some all-thread and made me a really nice, heavy duty slide hammer. we clamped the housing down to his work bench and heated it with an acetylene torch. We whacked it about a dozen times with the slide hammer, it took mean beating but it finally popped. The axle backing plate gasket was apparently bad because the outside of the bearing was all rusty and had rusted to the housing. I still need to check out the third member to see what parts I have to replace but I know at a minimum I'm going to need new axle bearings and backing gaskets and axle seals. oh happy day, I'm so close to having a rolling chassis!