This weekend I dissembled the rear diff of the truck. With one exception. I was unable to get the nut off the pinion. After two days of spring with penetrating oil, I finally manged to loosen it using a two foot breaker bar.

I immediately met the next challenge. The pinion shaft did not want to come out of the diff case. The instructions I had said to lightly tap on the bolt with a brass hammer. I tried taping on it with a framing hammer. No luck. The next day I tried hitting it with the hammer. Still no luck.

What next? Check Google. I finally found some good advice. Get a bigger hammer.

Guess what. A ten pound sledge hammer worked just fine.