2002 S60 Another driver side axle adventure

[pierremcalpine]

Take the strut right to out. You will get better access. Also have you tried using the short end of a "flat pry bar?" It seems counter intuitive but that worked better for mine
http://m.harborfreight.com/15-1-2-half- ... 20provided

[jcgirton]

I forgot to update this awhile back, I just wanted to post what I did to resolve this incase someone else has the problem and needs a work around - after trying to pry / hammer / pull this off for three weeks I gave up.

I just got a whole new axle, pulled the inner joint apart - the new axle came right apart, it didn't seem like anything held the inner joint together. I had already used the slide hammer to pull the old inner joint out - the way it fit together was much more secure than the new axle.

I took the new inner joint and used a dead blow hammer to tap it into the other half of the joint on the car and clamped the boot, it didn't seem to loose very much grease at all being opened. It was very tight, at first I didn't think it was going to go into the joint but it ended up working.