CV joint and Wheel Berring

I've got a bad CV joint, and a bad wheel berring. I've replaced both on one side, now it's time for the other. On the right side I just swaped out the whole axle, seemed to be easier. The wheel berring, however, took a few hours with a hammer and a punch to get the outer shell out, and I had to give up on getting the inner shell off the hub.

WTF is the trick to get these unbelieveably difficult (wheel berring) tasks accomplished?

What's involved with swaping a CV joint instead of the whole axle?

What tools do I need to replace a CV joint? How long should it take?

30 mm socket & impact wrench for the outer nut, 6 mm spline socket for the inner CV bolts. Pickle fork type ball joint separator for the lower ball joint.

new vw axle - 500.00
napa axle -180.00
new wheel bearing kit - 100.00

money saved to buy new car with because yours has 2873285974miles on it ... Priceless

yeah, I'm trying to beat the odometer on the USS Enterprise... not a trekkie so I have no idea if that's even the real name, point stays the same. That's what I get for making 8 trips from CA to NY (and the other way around).