Re: Off season projects
 

nope no press or even a dremel. i tried the vise and hammer way but i guess i wasnt hitting hard enough :p i was pretty scared id bend the shaft or something of the sort. hammer + motor just doesnt mix well for me. and i was wondering.. if i didnt care about the pinion anymore, as long as i got it off and the motor in good shape, are there any other ways? i have only limited access to a very limited tools

Re: Off season projects
 

Well, you could try to rig up some contraption involving clamps, though that may prove to be tricky. If you have a torch of some kind you could try heating it up and pulling the gear off, a good propane torch should only be $20-$30 with a tank. If that seems to scary you could also try taking off the gear with a grinder. If all else fails attack it with a hacksaw. If you're really worried about hurting something with the hammer/vise technique, strap a softer metal (aluminum or copper) to the hammer head so that you won't scarrify anything.

Re: Off season projects
 

How about a drill press? You can use the drill press to try and push on the shaft to force the gear out. Not too good for the drill press though. Like what James said, hacksaw is good, it'll take some time. Maybe buy some metal lubricant at an automotive store, like the stuff you use to loosten rusted bolts (but I think that only really helps when it's rusted shut).
Worse case senario, clamp the pinion rock solid in a vice, then sit there with a file or an angle grinder and tear away at the gear until you get somewhat close to the shaft. Then just try pulling/ pounding it out. Yeah, and it will be very time consuming.