I swear, I'm a good mechanic. I really am. This one's got me stumped. I was swapping out the front CV axles of my 2003 X5 3.0. Left side was super easy. Right side was going well. 2 inches from the new CV being fully engaged it stopped going in. I disassembled the left side again to look through the diff. You can clearly see the splines aren't engaged. It's right at the point where it's about to engage, but it won't. It also rotated freely at that time.

The bigger problem, I can't get it back out! I did make the mistake of not swapping out the older snap clip. Brain fart. I think the clip is stuck on the oil valley riffling in the diff.

I've tried the following:

-Skinny steel drift with mini sledge from drivers side. Broke the drift, axle didn't move.

-Pry bars. Bent 2 of them, one of which was a 1 inch thick octagon shaped bar. I was impressed. That thing is a beast of a bar.

-Separated the diff from the oil pan to confirm the CV is not stuck on the oil pan. It's not. The diff moved left and right with the axle. That's what's leading me to believe the clip is stuck in the oil valley.

-Slide hammers. Since it's not fully engaged I have roughly 2 inches between the pry point on the axle shaft and the axle housing sticking off the oil pan. I was able to wrap a chain around it for a very secure pull. 5 pound slide hammer seemed to move it maybe 1/4 inch when I first started, but that's where it stopped. It moves in and out about 1/4 inch by hand now, and it stopped rotating freely. I bent some metal for sure, which was the goal at this point, and thought I needed a bit more punch. Today I bought a 10 pound slide hammer. There's some power there! However, 3 hours later, no movement and my arms are jello. On the bright side, I'm now the proud owner of one beastly slide hammer!

Now it's time for plan elevendy-five... I think I can pull the diff and oil pan out together with the right CV axle in it. Once out I'm hoping that I can disassemble the diff, or at least have room to cut it free of the oil pan. Pretty sure I'm gonna need a new diff at this point anyways. This is looking like a big job. I'm not timid though, and I'd rather turn wrenches at this point than hammer anything else in the near future.

That's why I'm here. I've never done this job, and I've never been inside the diff of an X5. Does anybody have any experience with them? Any advice would be extremely appreciated! Thank you in advance.