CV Boot Q - Drive Axle

[shadrach74]

If the joint is still full of grease and it only has 30k on it with no symptoms of failure, then just pack it with grease and move on. If you were going to do the joint, I would have just recommended you buy the whole axel...

[The Radium King]

i put mine in a vise and hammered it off. didn't come easy and i decided to replace the cv just to be safe given how hard i'd hammered on it (just the cv is cheap). outers aren't serviceable and if the boot wasn't torn then I'd just repack and replace the boot (the boot is going to fail if it hasn't already, so may as well replace it while the axle is off). if the boot was torn then i'd clean and inspect it for wear. if it is worn or marked-up then go for a used oem from a wrecker as new oem is expensive and jobbers of questionable quality.

[Meir]

hi barkinfool.
i had the same experiences (including getting tips from TRK ).
you can read about it here:
Rear axels rebuild - Pelican Parts Technical BBS
and here:
Rear axels rebuild. O1 S
i also had an issue removing the CV joint from the shaft.
you will have to tap it to the direction of the transmission.
tap on the inner ring of the joint.
make sure you install it in the correct direction, and don't move it to much when it is of the shaft.
as you probably noticed by now, this is a messy job you don't want to do again anytime soon.
i decided to replace all 4 boots, replace the CV joints (even though mine was still fine) clean and grease the outer joint.
i had 76K on the car when i did it, and i intend to keep it for as long as i can, so it made sense to me.