Pulled out the axle. OOOPS

bertsmobile1 said:

Never beat off a wheel.
The only thing that holds it in is either an E clip or a round wire gear retainer.
Both bear against a thrust washer on the alloy case.
You now have a very big job ahead of you
The tranny has to come out be cleaned spotless split the busted fastener found new one + new thrust washer fitted then the whole thing put back together.
This is assuming that the slot in the axel is in a servicable condition.

In future put a pair of scissor jacks behind the wheel and do them up bu hand to put a load on the wheel.
next attack the axel with ah air hammer and put some weight behind it.
When the jacks get loose & drop a bit, tighten them up some more.
Repeat as necessary
Some wheels have taken a full day to get off but that is a lot less time effort & money than you are about to spend now.
Heat works a treat as does tapping the key in with a pin punch.
Most of the rust will be around the key slot.

In the worst case you will need to heat it with a torch to red hot which means you then will have to paint both rear wheels.
Having done this once you will become anal about removing rear wheels & greasing the axels with every service.

Taryl Fixes All has a good You tube vid on it.
I use the air hammer all the time now and rarely ever reach for the pullers.
Even on flywheels.
3,000 little taps a minute works a lot better than a well placed smack with the No 9 hammer & hope you don't miss.
Bought a stack of pointy ends for the hammer then ground them round to fit various engines.
Works a treat on chain saws & blowers too

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bertsmobile1 said:

Did you try heating dull red then quenching a few time to break the rust bond ?
Never had one that wouls not hammer out.
The one catch is you have to lay into the hammer so it never looses contact with the axel.thus you are pressing down with your body weight and the hammering is just providing shock loads.
If you allow the hammer to strike the end of the axel it can mushroom out the axel turning it into a big rivet.
Last resort is to pull the tyre & mount it in a press .
make a tool that is just smaller than the axel put a lot of load on it then apply heat.
If there is enough space behind the wheel to get a punch in you can try to knock the key out.
Only on one occasion did I have to pull an axel out but that mower lived outdoors and the axel when it came out was rusted beyond use so it was just a matter of trying to save the wheel.

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