when i come into a situation like that i usually spray penetrating oil around the hub it self, then take a pry bar and brace it on a suspension component and pry it off.
best way to find vaccum leaks is to take a can of brake clean and spray it around all the vaccum lines when u hear a change in idle or the sound disappears you found the culprit
Just wanted to introduce my self. I have been a master Mercedes technician for about 8 years now. Been a long time subscriber of etcg, finally decided joing the forum