A puller I had to use on my Ranger said to lube it with anti-seize.
Elroy recalls reading that recommendation and has full confidence that anti-seize would work well on the thread. Due to the "mess factor", Elroy elected to use an EP-0 grease on both the bearing and thread. While never-seize performs well on screws it is not well suited and is
specifically NOT recommended for ball bearings. While EP-0 grease is not readily available, Elroy inventoried a quart from the 5 gallon pail at work. Stored in a sealed mason jar that quart has lasted several years, remains clean in it's sealed container and has NOT separated from the carrier.
Cheap grease leaching oil during storage.
The screw also had a black oxide coating that was pulling a bright spot about half way up that was causing the nut to drag on the initial trail assembly. Elroy addressed this minor manufacturing defect with a light pass across a wire wheel. Lubed both the screw and nut well then packed the thrust bearing full of EP-0 prior to engaging the work.
That pulley didn't come off easy. It made Elroy red in the face to get initial movement but once it started to move is was not too bad. A light coat of grease on the pulley hub made reassembly a lot easier.
The biggest PITA was getting the dam serpentine belt back on
