Replacing firebrick - Fisher Papa Bear

Hey everyone, I am doing some work in my old Fisher Papa Bear, and I wanted some advice from the experts! Almost all of the fire brick has cracked in half and broken off. My goal is to replace all the brick along the sides, but I'm not really sure how to get the remaining brick out. Should it just pull right out? It seems like it is stuck in place somehow. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great! Thanks.

mine seemed stuck in the stove too, seems like between the ash and maybe a little moisture it locked them up pretty good, was a little rust under the firebrick. I took a rubber mallet and thumped the bottom of the stove pretty good a few times, then broke one that was already broken and they came out much easier, i don't know if you could even hurt an old fisher by hitting it with a rubber mallet, didn't seem to do anything to mine, good luck!

That will work or you can use a Rotary Hammer if one is available it is much faster. You are right the ash packs in and over the years it get like concrete. If you want to do it the slow way you will need a shop vac and a tool to clean out the cracks. To put them back in the process it the back goes in first, then the sides and then the bottom