[racerone3]

well... i got the axles out. i'll send them to the lab on monday for testing. i think they are made of kryptonyte. i bought 1 of every sawzall blade lowes had trying to find one to cut these things. i also bought a cheap angle grinder and some cut off wheels. the axles removed teeth from the blades with alarming speed. i did however find a method that worked... here it is.

with the axles hanging, i used the cut off wheel to slit the outer bearings, taking care not to nick the flanges. holding the grinder almost perpendicular to the tub, i made 2 cuts in the outer race. then using a pry bar and hammer, removed the outer race. i pried the cage that holds the ball bearings off. back to the cut off wheel, i cut the lock collars in the same manner as the outer races. using pliers, i tore the bearing seals off. finally i cut the axles outside of the tub and pulled them in. if the wheel hubs would have come off, i wouldn't have had to cut the axles at all. monday i'll torch and press the stubs out of the sprockets and be ready for the rebuild. not sure if this method will work on other machines, but it went well on the Attex and took less than an hour to get them all out. wear saftey goggles, leather gloves (i melted an nylon mechanics glove to my finger) and some ear protection.