I leave the drive axle in, put the stud on with a washer to hold removal tool from slipping. When removing bb from my '92 Trek 970 I used a 24" adjustable wrench, placed front fork on plank and proceeded to stomp on wrench. I had spent a lot of time trying other methods to no avail. The large wrench worked, you need a lot of leverage!
I happen to have the wrench, first time I needed it!