I ended up replacing the whole shaft instead of going the replace-the-boots-only route. Didn't have the correct tool to install the clamps, for one thing, and all in all it seemed to me not worth the apparent mess and hassle. I probably lack the "skills" necessary to do the boots only too, I suppose.

Honda's CV joints can be hell to get off the shaft and I have had to remove the inner joint in the past to do the outer boot when I worked at a Honda dealer. Some shafts have a damper between the joints also. The skill mention wasn't a put down. but I don't like the quality of the aftermarket rebuilt half shafts.

Yeah in regard to the skill involved, now that you've elaborated on what could be involved I don't doubt it isn't all that easy of a task and something I'd probably rather avoid having to try to mess with without proper know-how and/or experience. Also I don't doubt the quality of the aftermarket rebuilt half shafts is generally poor, considering what seems like rather low cost for those assemblies. Unfortunately I stuck myself with two of them because they're cheap (inexpensive) like that, and because I'm cheap (cheap) like that. But maybe next time around I'll examine/consider more closely and seriously the option of going about it differently instead. Thanks!

Okay, so now that you have that original Honda shaft off the car, try a little experiment. I did this on a Subaru and was glad I did. Take that joint apart on your workbench. If you are able to do that, order a boot kit and clean, grease and re-assemble it. You can get a clamp tool online pretty cheap that works well. The put your axle on the shelf, because if you bought a cheap aftermarket axle from Oreilly, or Autozone, etc., you are going to be needing it soon enough.

If you manage to repair (a big if IMO), then return AZ, OR shaft for a store credit. They accept returns w/o question since these shafts fail frequently.

In the long run, better shafts are a bargain, unless you have lot's of free time to replace axles.

good luck

Well actually I already turned in the old shaft to the auto part store (Car Quest) from where I purchased the cheap rebuilt axle so I could get refunded the "core" charge ($73). So although it would be interesting and probably worthwhile for me to try the experiment described above, I won't be able to. Out of curiosity I looked through my old records/receipts and found that the original Honda shaft on that side was replaced one time already, in 2004, with a rebuilt one. That means the original Honda one lasted about 12 years for me. And the rebuilt one lasted until now (about 9 years) until I noticed deterioration/cracking happening with the boot which prompted my decision to replace the axle assembly again.

I won't be attempting a repair one anytime soon, if ever. The joint itself on the axle I just replaced hadn't actually failed (yet) but I decided to replace it, instead of the just the boots, as the boots had obvious deteriorating/cracking ready to split soon.

Incidentally the brand of the recent "remanufactured" half shaft I bought was Cardone, but I have no idea whether that's any better than any other remanufactured brand. Probably not.

This is true!

Google "aftermarket axle honda vibration" and you will see what he is talking about across many forums. Most of the aftermarket axles are not "New" as they claim. However, if your car is a automatic you can get away with aftermarket store axles per my experience.

The aftermarket axle I got didn't claim to be new. It was a rebuilt one and that was no secret. My car is an automatic, and I put a rebuilt axle in it. Probably should've spent the extra money to buy a new one but as is usually the case with me there was no extra money.