I finally got this taken care of. The right inner CV joint is known to be problematic on CR-Vs. Symptoms are vibration/shudder under hard acceleration and at higher speeds which is what I was experiencing. My salvage OEM axles with 49K miles arrived and guess what? The right inner CV joint was bad. Ha! I got them cheap with the expectation of probably rebuilding anyway, so no big deal. So got the right axle rebuilt by CVO for $79. While I was there guess who else showed up? A courier from the local Honda dealer. That's where they get their axles rebuilt. The CVO guy said sometimes they can't even source a new axle, so rebuild is their only option.
So I did this in my driveway. The old axle wasn't coming out with all the YouTube tricks (hammer at it, pull with a chain and heavy object, pry with screwdriver). I actually did a little bit of damage to the lip of the intermediate shaft support housing prying at it. Here's what gets it out with ease, a slide hammer with FWD axle removal attachment. Autozone rents them out for free. I had that axle out with 2 easy whacks of the slide hammer. It was that easy. Amazingly I couldn't find a YouTube video showing this tool in use. The only other problem area for me was the lower ball joint. I just could not break it free and actually ended up damaging the boot trying some of those YouTube tricks. What worked really well? A tie rod removal tool from O'Reilly's loaner tool program. Popped that sucker right out.
Local Honda dealer wanted $45 for a new lower ball joint. I took a chance on the Moog equivalent even though the product description page says "Made in China". After coupon they worked out to ~$26 each. Picked them up at Advanced Auto and to my surprise the box and ball joint both say "Made in Japan". Score! My OEM ball joints don't even say that.
Big thanks to Joe for offering to help me with this. I ended up doing it myself in my driveway. It certainly took longer than I hoped, but I learned a few things and my problem is now solved. That's always a good thing. Time for a couple beers
