Thanks for the post.  Sharing repair experiences is bound to help someone going thru the same repairs.

Ken

Just an FYI - in the process of replacing my drivers side half-shaft and hub, I damaged the axle seal or output shaft seal as Mini calls it.  It you have a 6speed manual transmission, you really don't want to have to deal with this if you can avoid it unless you like WORK! 
Typical stuff, release the lower ball joint mount and tie-rod end.  There is very limited space to access the seal and it is recessed into the casing... Yes, you read it correctly, the outer flange of the seal is recessed into the housing.  I could not get an angle to leverage my seal puller to pop that bugger out.  I had to use a sharp tipped slot blade stubby screw driver to work the edge of the seal up, basically peel the metal edge up, so I could use a longer screwdriver as a drift to tap and work the edge to get the seal to move.  I would tap the tip into the edge of the seal and twist to lift out(about 100 times) After 2 hours of fussing with it, I got the seal to move enough that I could get my seal puller in and just pop it out.  The seal has a cone shaped guard on the outer face that will detach if you try to use is as a leverage point to pop the seal out.  Miraculously, I did not do any damage to the housing as I was super careful to only engage the seal for working it out. 
Its changed now, but I would highly recommend you to be very careful if you have to pull a half shaft out or re-install it for what-ever reason. 
Good luck.