When I changed my axles, I disconnected the trailing lower arm on the front suspension, took out the six 12-point bolts from the diff/axle, turned the wheel so that the hub face was facing forward, and with the axle bent at the joints, I pulled it out and somewhat down to free it from the diff (mine had also been binding on the lip of the "cup" where the diff end of the axle sits). Then I slid the splined end out of the hub. I found that instead of thinking too much about it, I had to use the "brute force and ignorance" method of just swearing and yanking until I found the proper combination to free it from the car. I definitely did NOT need to remove the transmission.

 

Heh.. I removed the tranny to replace the clutch and flywheel. You don't need to disconnect anything but the 6 bolts and the 1 bolt on the hub to get the axle out.

 

All I had to do was remove the hub bolt and the six bolts and jack the suspension way up to get the axle out without removing the pinch bolt. I have the axle out, there is the part of the axle that connects to the transfer case that the six bolts go through then screw into the transfer case "cup". That is the part that is stuck (this part is able to be seperated from the axle and will be replaced when new axle is installed). I think im just going to have to find a way to get a bigger hammer in there....

 

Well I finally got the job finished. The hammer idea ended up working out, go figure. Thanks for the advise...