I have a related problem/question with a broken pinch bolt head on my 03 ll bean Outback. I'm trying to get the right front axle off the knucke so I can replace the bearing. Well the ball joint pinch bolt cant be loosed because the head snapped off... My question is does that pinch joint also keep the axle on the knuckle? I dont want to force it off with my crank puller if that is the case... but it sounds like they are unrelated and I can maybe push the axle off with the pinch joint still tight around the ball joint? Please help this has taken two days of fruitless research so far...
