My 1st round of attempts involved: a CV Slider Hammer (with extension); 3 foot prybar, 2 foot prybar, and construction/demolition prybar against the transmission case and the back of the joint. I had a helper too, and I even used a sledge hammer for a little persuasion-- fail. 2nd attempt: I removed the half-shaft w/ tripod, boot, and grease then hammered a cold chisel into the plunge joint housing where the clamp usually holds the boot -- fail. 3rd attempt: I'm getting desperate now, so despite my better judgement I tried doing what I saw in a video on youtube. The video shows a guy working on a XC90 who claims to have "the most difficult CV joint". His technique involves vice-grips clamped to the tripod housing with a chain running between the vice-grips and his jack. He then slides the jack with all his might away from the car and the joint pops out. It worked for this guy, but not me.
I'm even more desperate now and I'm having fantasies of using some MAP gas or just busting the plunge joint housing into a million pieces. So unless someone has some advice this may be the route I go!
Anyone else been in this boat and have an idea? Here's a picture of the culprit and some of (not all) the tools I've tried thus far.