I like the long rod from the far side myself. The slide hammers I have tried just don't work for me. Rebar or some other long rod works the best.
Check the wear on your axles where the bearings ride. If they are worn you you question them, go to NAPA and get new bearings with the seal atached to it. They call them wear replacement bearings or something like that. It relocates the bearing on the axle. They seam to work pretty good and it could save from buying new axles.
Joe
