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I discovered something that sort of forced my hand at punching out the front output shaft; a freeze/well plug was loose in the hollow cavity behind the splines. I gave the shaft a couple light whacks with a plastic mallet and to my surprise it came right out, without distorting the dust shield at all. I should have no problem reusing it. But now I have to source one 45mm plug, and one 36mm plug. The 36mm plug is the one on the inside of the shaft immediately behind the splines, but to fix it I had to remove the larger 45mm plug at the end of the shaft. This shouldn't be that big of a deal. It will also give me an opportunity to clean out all the rust-dust in it. I have no doubt it's from the condensate drain that sits right above the transfer case. I'm sure what happens is it drip down the front of the case and wicks in where the splines are. A dumb design error to be sure. Attached is a picture of the 36mm plug loose inside the hollow cavity behind the splines.
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