So Hockey Boy has an issue with the drivers side hub. It has not been locking in so last night he opened it up to replace it and was unable to get the big ring out. It looks like the center of the axle shaft has pushed outward and caused the ring to blow out from the center - now it is stuck in the housing where the outer ring goes.

Any brilliant ideas?

Put a block of wood under the accelerator? Can you push the axle back into place to gain some working room?

Block of wood under the accelerator!

Good one!

Wow, I say hit it on the end GENTLY (calling you out Greg) and see if you can get some movement. Let me know if I should stop by to help.

Did the bearing go kaput? Not sure how the outer axle would travel that far.

If it were mine I would soak the inside with pb blaster overnight then go at the axle and planetary gear of the lockout with a bfh and then hopefully you got enough room to get to the snap rings and spindle nuts.

How about a little grease in there so they dont rust together....

If memory serves me right he did rebuild / grease them within the last year. So something else is going on.

Put a fender washer & bolt into that axle stub and tighten it up, that will give you a little play in the gear, might be enough to take the pressure off of the snap ring & outter hub bolt ring, maybe enough to take a chisel and finish breaking that bolt ring so it can be replaced. Looks to me like he didn't put it back together right the last time and didn't get the gears to mesh before he put it all together.