wandering drum puller

[garbagestate 44]

Have any of you guys ever had a problem with a drum puller that won't stay centered as it's being tightened on the spindle? I have a blue point 3 legged puller with a rounded center screw that tends to wander in the direction of the least amount of clamping force. With 3 legs on a 5 point pattern, there's always going to be 2 legs together while 1 leg is on the opposite side.In spite of this, I did the passenger side already but the driver side won't budge. I put a brass cap on the end of the spindle to keep from buggering the threads as it wanders.When I did the other side, I screwed the axle nut on backward to keep from mushrooming the end of the spindle and wound up splitting the nut and lightly damaging the spindle threads but not so much that I trashed it. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated. 

[Don Coatney]

Can you grind the end of your puller shaft to somewhat of a point? Also might help to drill a slight tapered countersink hole centered in the end of the axle.

[garbagestate 44]

Yeah, I guess I could make the center screw pointy. The center of the spindle already has a hole in it's center maybe 3/16" diameter which intersects with the cross hole for the cotter pin. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it works out. Thanks Don

[TodFitch]

My puller has a slight point in the center. And I re-install the axle nut upside down (castles toward drum) with the flat of the nut even with the end of the axle.

[Grdpa's 50 Dodge]

When i pulled mine I tried screwing it on backwards.  No dice,,,it would not start,,,dont know why goes on fine right way but not backwards.  Was I not holding my tongue on the proper side of my mouth?

[garbagestate 44]

Here's an update on the wandering puller. I put an 1 1/4'' socket on the end of the puller screw then put a 5/8'' ball bearing(left over from the seat track job) between the square hole in the socket and the hole in the middle of the spindle.That kept the screw from wandering as I tightened it up. Instead of beating it with a hammer, I put an 18'' pipe wrench on it and eventually a 3' pipe on that, and it popped pretty easily. Hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon. Thanks again for the input.