I think I probably did something like you suggest, but I used 2 chisels. Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to damage the inner metal CV cover, so I stopped.

It is really in there, so I'm pretty certain that the splines have to be damaged.

Now the only reason to get it out is to use it as a core, so I guess trashing the cv cover is really not important.

thanks for the thought.

Joe