slide hammer for pulling axles

While shopping recently for a hub puller, I placed an ad on Craigslist. A guy called me, not with a hub puller, but a large slide hammer he said would do it. I had already ordered a hub puller, but I bought this anyway to use for pulling the axle shafts. Bought it for $30 (soda can is for size comparison).



So, how to attach this to my axle shafts? Obvious solution would be to get a nut for the axle and a nut for the slide hammer, and weld them together, right? Found a nut for the axle, but the slide hammer appears to be an oddball thread, possibly proprietary to the manufacturer, appears to be 16mmx1.25 pitch. Couldn't find a nut anywhere. So what to do?

I took a piece of 3/8" x 2" steel bar I had, and drilled two 1/2" holes in it....



Welded the axle nut to it (yes, those are booger welds)....



Bolted that puppy onto the slide hammer....



Screwed it onto the axle, and they both popped out with 5-6 whacks.

Cleaned the grease out and now, how to get the seals out? Scrounged around in my junk hardware box, and found a 6" piece of 3/8" all-thread and an old Unistrut nut. Added some nuts and washers....



Bolted it to the slide hammer, and voila! Seal puller! Worked great!R)

 

nothing wrong with using what you have to "git er done"

slide hammer can be a very valuable tool, just like the blue wrench and an air hammer.

I've tried to find a nut for those too, it is an oddball thread...

 

Love the blue tip wrench.... found that using that and a little parrafin (sp?) wax can help out even the most stubborn of bolts.