Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

I am one of the fortunate ones but be aware that I am in the salt belt up here in Jersey as well so I'm not working on a pristine Florida X5.

After 10 years I figured the axle and nut would be on there pretty good, so I did 2 things
1) Rented the proper tools to get the axle out of the hub (if you ever get your wheel bearings done the axle would need to come out at some point)
2) Popped the center caps off my wheels, and used Penetrating Oil (I used PB Blaster, but Kroil, WD40 even, or the popular 1:1 ATF/Acetone mix works even better) on the center Axle nut and around it to loosen the axle nut and penetrate into the axle splines, twice a day for the 5 days prior to starting the job.

I used a Hub Puller flange which bolts down over the hub with 3 wheel bolts, and uses a threaded rod in the middle which when used with proper wrench on the hex portion of the rod will "push in" the axle out of the hub, once you have the axle nut removed. Note that once I had axle nut removed I sprayed the axle splines liberally with penetrating oil to loosen it up.

No hammering on the axle stub, and no issues. I will note, that if you want to do the job properly and not run into snags, you need to plan ahead, and you need to not be in a rush. Don't try to finish before the kids soccer games, etc. My wheel bearings were actually a much bigger problem that removing the axle and replacing the boots. But I planned ahead for it. With any big job on these cars, something you definitely need to do.