Axle replacement

[Tricked]

I am helping an old work buddy with his sister's 2001 kia sephia in replacing the axles. The cv boots are ripped on both sides and have been that way awhile. They click while driving and turning. He bought complete half-shafts. For some reason, we cannot get the axle out of the hub on the driver's side. We used a rental tool from the autoparts store and a hammer with no luck. The end is starting to get mushroomed already. The new axles look similar to the XD for the exception of the passenger side has an intermediate shaft. The driver's side has the c-clip on the tranny side. The passenger's side is a female splined end (like the hub). Anyone have suggestions on how to free up the ****er from the hub? I'm going to try heat and an air chisel next. I've never had this much trouble doing this. I had the axles out of my sentra and they slid right out. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[KeWLKaT]

If it's already mushroomed, and you have a replacement, my suggestion is to torch the crap out of it, enlarge center hole if needed, and fit the biggest punch you can find with the biggest hammer.

[Tricked]

Only problem with destroying the existing one is that he needs to get the core charge back from the store.

[Munky]

Only problem with destroying the existing one is that he needs to get the core charge back from the store.

Torch the part thats mushroomed and try to beat it back to shape.