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Sorry for replying to an old thread but I struggled with this same problem for several days and found a solution that I wanted to share for anyone else that finds this thread googling for an answer to this problem like I did. I was in a day long panic when I realized there was no way to get the carrier bearing free.
Some posts suggest removing the entire mount that holds the bearing but I found that to be impossible also. I couldn't even get three of the bolts loose. What did work for me was to take the axle apart at inner joint. You don't have to take apart the cv joint which sounds intimidating. The shaft will pull out of the joint after opening one ring. All you need to do is pop off the CV joint cover and clean off enough grease to find the ring holding the shaft in place. It needs to be opened and the shaft pulls right out of that joint. You don't need to take the joint apart. When you buy a replacement axle be sure that you buy an identical one (usually one that requires a core since those are identical). I found that Advanced Auto parts axle used a different style joint and wouldn't work. Autozone however had absolutely identical axle. I just took it apart the same way. Putting the axle back into the joint is easy as the end of the shaft is tapered so the ring just opens up on its own as you push in the axle. There is no need to hold the ring open while putting the replacement axle in.
This isn't as good as replacing the entire shaft because you don't get the bearing replaced or the actual inner joint replaced but most folks doing this job problem have problems with the outer joint and/or the cv joint covers. This method replaces the outer joint and both cv joint covers.
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