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Wanted to give everyone an update: I was able to remove the CV joint outer race, thus leaving only the inner race attached to the axle. This gave me a lot more room and I was able to tap the inner race off of the axle shaft by directly hitting it with a small hammer.
Both of my axles were this way. Also reinstalling new CV joints again required hammering. I suspect that there is simply variation in the axle shaft diameter such that for some people, the CV joint slides off and on easily, while for others it's an extremely tight fit. I doubt both axles became equally worn out with only 40,000 miles on the odometer.
While the inner CV joint was removed, I also replaced the outer CV joint boot by sliding the replacement boot the length of the shaft starting from the inner side. Instead of dicking around with those stupid crimp clamps to secure the boots, I used regular screw-type clamps which were much easier to install and don't require a special tool.
I've now driven around 200 miles on the rebuilt axles without any problems.
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