The gas wrench much be wielded with great care and skill. One wrong move and you'll cut into something that will take a lot of time to re-fill and re-shape.
The brackets are what's important here, so the axle tubes become collateral damage as they get sliced into. This preserves the complete bracket, which will be machined to fit the new axle housing.
The wisdom of cleaning the axle inside and out is also readily apparent. Sparks go everywhere!
When the cutting's done, a few taps of a hammer usually liberate the bracket from the axle housing.
After the next photo session (probably next week after the new housing is ready) we'll document the bracket installation.