Putting it back is the only thing that wasnt a nightmare. I make sure the splines are aligned then pull back on the axle a bit and shove it back in hard in a kind of hammering action. So far that hasnt ever been that bad but I do put grease on the splines too.
I had two different x5's that the the same cv axle side failed on within 2 days. So I ended up developing this trick because I wasnt going thru the same crap as last time
Ive got the job down to 30 minutes now. Power tools help too.