To add to the knowledge base, I just took apart an axle where one side had never been apart and it had about 40K miles on it. (The other side had a hub removed at some point).
Axle nut came off easily with my cordless impact.
The hub came off with a simple 2-jaw puller. I was prepared to abort the mission and make a better tool before I put too much pull on the hub, but it popped off with very little. My puller has a cone shaped attachment that pilots into the center bore of the axle shaft, which does a nice job of keeping everything centered as compared to the "flat foot" kind.
The axle and bearing I removed with a slide hammer. The studs had already been popped out, so I used the hub adapter and some 3/8" bolts. It was sitting on jackstands, and being held slightly with an engine hoist so that it wouldn't hit the ground if it fell off the jackstands. A couple of hits and it was out.
Your mileage may vary.