Trying to remember correctly, when I was at thee point you are at now, I took my small propane torch, not my mini, but a pencil flame, and brought a bit of heat to the tower under the puller, and then it just went pop? I think I had all I could get on that with a 3' bar and the end of my puller is forever changed. Took 3 days of fooling with it, but I never backed it off.