I see something else wrong here I think. The center pieces of that whole mechanism are not supposed to come out with the snap rings still in place.
Am I thinking this wrong? First the outer knob assembly comes out, but the entire inner workings are not normally large enough to sliide out with the inner snap ring still installed.
Can you show us a pic of what you've already removed Bundy? Just to satisfy my curiosity.
And the reason you need the spindle nut socket the others are talking about, is not to remove the locking hub mechanism, but to remove the entire outer hub and rotor (or drum) assembly so you can remove the spindle so you can remove the axles.
It's all one big system where you'll be pulling one part after the other to get to the point you can do the work you actually started out to do.
Typical four-wheel drive thing...
Then you get to put it all back together with the proper torque sequence to adjust the wheel bearings and all that fun stuff. Pretty easy once you've done it once or twice, but the first time is kind of intimidating.
Oh, and if you find a really big spring behind that aluminum slug from the Warn hub, leave it out. Some people re-install the original Spicer hub spring behind aftermarket hubs and it causes all kinds of trouble. With any luck, it's done right and you won't find anything like that.
Just wanted to warn you in case you didn't know what to look for.
Paul