Stubborn Spindles

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

I bought two new life-time warranty front axle U-joints at Champion Auto
on Saturday while in Great Falls ($12 each?).. they didn't have the
Heavy Duty in stock.

So I went about changing the driver's side U-joint out last night...

Pull the tire, hub, rotor, brakes, snap rings, spindle, and out comes
the axle shaft.

Drat.  The stub shaft hole elongated.  :-(  It's all but junk now...
i'll wait to oblong an inner axle shaft, then I'll have my friend Mike
MIG weld the bearing caps in place and it'll be good for one more run...
;-)

After I finally removed the U-joint (I had to use my grinder on one end
of the U-joint cross to get it to come out.. since the stub had
elongated) I set about yanking the axle shaft from the '72's Dana 30..
the outer stub shafts are identical to the '44.. and I'm not planning on
using the '30 again anyhow so...

Tear it down.. all the way to the "remove spindle".. and no go.  No
chiseling around the spindle and knuckle, no tapping on the spindle
itself.. and no heating with my propane torch could convince it to come
off.. looked like a lost cause so I put it back together.

OK.. what's the next step?  Penetrating oil?  MAPP gas in the torch? 
Oxy/Acetelyne?  GRINDER. :-)

To make a bad repair worse.. I decided to cannibalize a complete axle
shaft from the '76 Dana 44 in the garage slated for the '72.. (it was
getting late and I didn't even want to bother with changing the U-joint
at this point)... only to tear it apart far enough to find out I don't
have an allen wrench small enough to remove the auto hubs.  :-(

The front axle in the '77 went back together last night without a stub
shaft. ;-)

Maybe NAPA will sell me a new stub-shaft at a reasonable price.. I'll
try it, anyhow.. 

Did I hear Warn has lifetime front axle shaft kits for sale now?... 

Say.. in pulling the drum brakes off the Dana 30, I started wondering..
can I resuse the "hub body" attached to the drum with a disc brake
rotor?  If I wanted to make up a spare set of rotors and hubs using the
Dana 30 hardware?  I need to look closer...

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout