It wasn't a silly question, but no there wasn't. I eventually managed to remove it. I managed to build a revised puller and ended up dragging it half an inch up the shaft before the threads in the cast iron bush failed around the holes i'd drilled and tapped into it for the puller. I re-drilled and tapped them deeper (they were already 3/8" deep) and tried again. I also drilled two large holes down through the bush on the split line, in an attempt to remove some of the stress. This resulted in the bush itself finally giving up and one half coming out. The other remained and had to be separated from the pulley once it was off.. It would appear that it was the bush being stuck to the key amongst other things that was causing the issue. New bush and key ordered for a few pounds, so other the the hassle that bit was cheap to fix.
The expensive bit was discovering that I need to replace one of the two fibre gear wheels in the gear box. It is great that Meddings still sell the parts, but they aren't cheap. My bargin drill had ened up costing more than I budgeted for, but still happy with it.
Edited By Mark Davison 1 on 13/10/2017 07:41:59