Your experience is EXACTLY what I went through. But if you're not one of the extremely lucky ones who can separate their outer axle shaft from the CV joint, separating the inner joint is by no means an easy task. Took me a solid six hours per side, and it was an exhausting six hours.

Peabo -

What type of grease did you end up using on the inner CV joint? The "special", uber-expensive stuff, or something different? Glad you were able to get it done.

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2003 X5 4.4i
1992 Porsche 968
2007 328i
2014 Subaru Forester XT