Have an old wheel with a freewheel stuck to it and lack a bench vice, about how much should I expect to pay for the LBS to remove the freewheel? The budget for my little rebuild keeps going up and the wife is thinking about beating me with a pedal wrench.

Do you have a freewheel tool? If yes, than prop the wheel against the wall so that when you turn with the wrench you drive it into the wall - that gives support. Find an extender for your wrench and give it a go. (Some penetrating oil helps like pb blaster/liquid wrench)

Otherwise for a price.. depends on the LBS/country/area. And it goes from free to a beer to maybe a few buck, idk.

I once had to take a wheel in for this, and they wouldn't take any money from me. Took them 30seconds with the right tools. I just made sure to buy a couple of tubes since i needed to restock and they were so nice about it...

I use Asi's method but instead of a cheater bar, I use a 12" crescent on the FW tool and whack the end of the wrench a time or two with a rubber mallet. Hasn't failed me yet.

LBS? not much.. a Tip, as a thank-you.. suggested..

NB Prong type removers need to be clamped into the hub,
using QR or axle nut,..
so It stays engaged so wont strip F/W, & break tool

And check that some freewheels require you to take the axle out (to make room for the tool as the locknut on the axle may not be small enough to pass trough the freewheel tool hole.
As for impacting it with the hammer, yes it works yet with a "cheater" bar you can have similar effect rocking it sharp a few centimeters (the flex in the bar/wrench/fw tool/wheel slippage as it rocks against the wall), it's a more gentle/ample approach preventing shattering the tool/fw body that may happen (if poor quality of the tool or fw is present). I agree that an extension bar should never* be used on tightening anything as it's a killer on threads.

*unless you need to tighten a bolt/nut by angle not by torque value - like in header bolts on an engine - there you'd want a continuous movement to the required position and may be hard to get with a short handle - so an extension is even indicated as it's a gentle push until the "destination" marked on the angle compass.

Really it depends on the feel of the grip and strength on the fastener.
If it's hard treated, strong, possible shatter of bolts -> extensions,
If it's soft and may round/bend -> impact force

If you have a whip then you should be able to take it off yourself. There's no bicycle coops in the area? They could help too.

No, you cannot remove a freewheel with a whip.

Yet with two chain whips you can remove individual sprockets out of the freewheel customizing it - but it's old practice (and also very hard to take them out, and in practice two whips are not enough - heavy tools and custom made tools often get involved in such an ordeal)

Check this out: https://sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html - it's about all you need to know about freewheels.

Yes, you can do that, but it's irrelevent, has nothing to do with removing the freewheel itself. It is indeed a pretty obsolete procedure - anyone who needs to do that probably already knows how.

Well took it to the LBS guy was really nice about it and used the freewheel removal tool i brought in. Put it in the vice, exerted a lot of force...POP yay. Not so much. Tabls broke off the freewheel tool. eek. so he switches to the shop freewheel tool. Can't get it to budge. Left it at the shop, the owner/head mechanic is due in and might have some tricks up his sleeve. Hope so. Buying bar tape there at very minimum once this thing pops off. Will keep you updated.

Being incompetent kind of negates being nice. The tab type tool (usually Suntour or Regina) requires the tool to be clamped onto the hub before removal, then loosened as soon as the freewheel breaks free. Very, very rare that it won't come off with the right tool.

The mechanic should not have used your tool - just bad practice for a lot of reasons. But he needed to use it properly, so the shop (or the individual if he was acting contrary to shop policy) needs to buy you a new tool. Whether they charge you for removal is another matter, but justified if they do charge for doing it right.

Why are you getting it off in the first place?
If it's worn and out of ideas, use a hammer and punch/screwdriver/chisel on the "two hole thing" CLOCKWISE to loosen and remove it, remove the cluster of cogs (a lot of small balls will pop off), remove the pawls (slide them off axially, they will have some springs too), and put a large crescent wrench/channel locks on the pawl holders (IT WILL DESTROY THE FW BODY) and give it a twist with any hammer/extender/hammer-extender/bench vice and it must come off.

Removal is often required for a good bearing rebuild on the hub itself.

I have used air-impact wrenches successfully before, as long as the socket is shallow enough to provide enough pressure against the tool. The purely rotary motion is a bit more effective on the splines than a cheater bar which can side load the tool(and round it). Same concept as the vise method but reversed and with a bit more force. Also applies to bottom bracket cartridges...

Still if you have to maintain the hub, FW may stay as long as you only repack with grease (and change the cones/axle). It only comes necessary when you remove the races of the hub (if possible, and if finding a perfect match for the hub). That's why an axle comes with a large spacer and the locknut is on the far end: to can drive out the cone with a screwdriver on the side; or better yet, loosen the NDS locknut and remove the NDS cone and drive the axle out of the DS leaving the DS cone-spacer-locknut untouched.

The problem was not so much the force used but rather incorrect use of the removal tool.

It is very difficult to properly clean the drive side cup without freewheel removal, and not possible to inspect the cup for damage. Removing races is almost never done. Again anyone who doing such a thing would (or should) know how to do it.

But still manageable; if it was such a PITA to remove a particular FW, would you still do it?