Revisiting the Front Propeller Shaft

Hey Folks,
I've finally gotten around to pulling my tranny, and I've had one stopper after another. My latest has forced me to reach out for some help.

Before you direct me to, I've spent the last hour reading every post on propeller shafts and haven't come up with anyone addressing my issue. I know that this SHOULD be a walk in the park.

Removing the front propeller has proven to be amazingly difficult. First off, the front bolts in the manual are clearly shown in front of the front frame cross beam. Mine are situated directly above the frame, making it near impossible to put a wrench on them, let alone a torque wrench. It looks like the only way to do this is with a crows foot and an extension, but I'm scared as hell to do that because of what follows:

Removing the bolts to the flange on the transfer case have been a first class pain! First of all, my breaking torque was WAY over 65ft/lbs. I finally broke the nuts loose with an impact wrench, but I expected it to come off easily when I read someone else took his front shaft off off-road with a "pair of dykes and some other tools I had". I was hoping to just swing the shaft out of the way of the transmission so I could make my pull with out taking the shaft off the front diff. Now that the nuts are gone, I've been whacking away at the bolts with a brass dead blow and can't get them to move a muscle.

The threads have a white substance on all the threads, perhaps some locking compound? My truck is really clean for 7 years old, factory chalk marks and assembly stickers are still in place. I would guess that it was never removed before, but I could be wrong.

So, 1. anyone have some pointers on the front bolts? Am I just not seeing the easy way plain in my face?
2. Anyone also have bolts that tight? I'm thinking about heat, but worried about the seals in the transfer case. Maybe a tapered shaft on an air hammer?

Thanks.

 

Ok,
While I'd still love some feedback on the info above, I did get the flange to hammer free of the transfer case, collapsed the shaft and wiggled it off.
Looking at the bolts that remain in the shaft, they look pressed in, and I doubt would ever come free with out some serious heat.
The OEM manual says "remove 4 nuts , washers and bolts" I'll just leave the bolts in, and pray I never have to replace them.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...j-case-marlin-crawler-goes-into-07-tcoma.html

 

So, are you subtly showing me that the transfer cases have bolts pressed into the flanges and don't come out with out the fingers of God?

 

Yep.