Thanks for bearing with me, guys
( ha ha ha - get it? BEARING with me.... I kill myself).

Thanks John - yes, the other side has some mild scoring where the race slides in - how did you know? ..Especially the surface between the oil seal and the bearing race - not sure if that's normal production line machining or if the old bearing race spun... its pretty mild, more visual than anything you can feel with a finger.. so what I did was take the new bearing race and see how it fit in the old axle, and it slides in pretty snug.. but I didn't tap it in place cuz I gotta get the old oil seal out first...

I gave it one last try before giving up for the night... !@&^$#@*&%$# ...is all I can say,

Knocked the closure plate studs out, hammered the adjuster ring CCW until the inwards teeth pushed outwards against the back of the axle flange to put outward pressure on it, heated the bejeezus out of the axle tube, slide-hammered the !*&#$%@# out of it... even hammered carefully on the axle tube to see if I could "shock" it loose..

...Not a fraction of an inch movement.

But I have a new approach I'll try next time; using the principle behind the front suspension lower ball joint remover - an outward expanding nut & bolt:

I have a heavy bolt that fits snug behind the axle flange and touches the axle housing flange.. By putting a nut on this bolt, and unscrewing it, a very strong "spreading" effect is created between the flanges..

I only had one bolt to try with today. Not enough force. But the hardware store opens early and they will sell me 4-5 more. 'll insert them between the flanges and "screw them apart"... to put tremendous force to push them flanges apart..

I'm trying to upload pics to show ya, I'll keep trying.
- Art