dotty

Hi,
I'm having trouble with my Avy '04 5.3
It's been both front and rear ended. I assume the owner thought it's done for. But I've imported it here and decided to give it a new chance at life. It's from New Jersey, so it's quite thoroughly rusted over. I don't think it has ever seen any kind of rust protection. Anyway, I've already replaced quite a few things. New gaskets - was leaking quite badly from both oil pans and rocker covers. New copper brake lines, new oil lines, power steering lines, fuel lines, brakes...and a lot more.
Sorry for this long introduction, but this is my first post here; so I thought I'd introduce my car a bit.

Onto the problem...
I took out the front diff. The axle seals were leaking quite badly. Plus, it's easier to take the oil pan off without it in the way. After taking it apart I've also noticed the bearings are worn out. The passanger axle was easy enough, because the c-clip that holds the axle in place is visible and acceseble once you unscrew the arm? Idk what's the name for it. I wasn't able to take the axle out with a hammer like I've seen on many tutorials on the net. That's why I took the c-clip off.
As for the driver side axle...I honestly gave up at this point. There seems to be no way to take it out. I'm using a axle hammer (6.3 kg - it's big and heavy enough, trust me). I've locked the diff casing in place, so all of the power of the blow goes into the axle, but is still won't budge. I've also seen someome suggest that you can grind away one of the teeth of the diff to release the center pin and thus, gain access to the c-clip, but in the case of this perticular model, you'd have to grind away two, because the center pin is so thick.


You can see the axle here, it won't budge

The case is taking a heavy beating. The force of the hammer is big enough, someting must be wrong?