Just to finish this thread here is what happened:

I gave up on getting the axle out and took the car to a shop. They had it for three days, then gave up and told me I either needed to live with it, or I needed a new differential. That was last Friday. On Saturday I went to the junkyard and grabbed a 3.07 axle (picknpull charged about $100 counting core and extra fees, for those who might be curious).

I had a flight out of the country Sunday, so I just left the diff and new axle seals with my good friend who has been using the car while I live out of the US. The differential was dropped off at the shop monday and the guys finished yesterday evening.

The new diff is smooth and quiet, and the cv joints dont knock anymore.

Thanks for the advice and time everyone.

jesse

Well, that's a disappointing end to the saga. Did the shop have any idea why it wouldn't come out?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

The shop just said it was "impossibly seized." The mechanic allowed that it could have been heat that built up and caused the seizure.

There certainly was oil in both the old differential (full) and also some in the inner cv joint. I would have like to see the old diff myself and investigate further, but I ran into a time crunch and the shop was closed by the time I was told it was unfixable, and then I left the country that weekend.

It was not all disappointing. This was the first time I pulled a differential and tried an axle swap. So cool learning experience. I am also glad I picked good parts from the picknpull. If I had known the pros would have had so much trouble I would have just gone to the junk yard earlier and gotten the diff and done the swap myself. But I ran out of time.

Sorry I can't show any cool post mortem pics for folks to learn from.

THANK YOU for letting us know how it ended .

I've had a couple left side inner axle stubs be *very* tightly stuck ~ I just push it in then brace both feet against the under side and yank for all I'm worth, in and out a few times until it eventually comes free .

I agree those Spider gears looked mighty suspect and clearly the gear oil hadn't been changed in far too long.

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better