Well, shit. Now what?

[David Pertuz]

Replacing the front shocks on my P10, and with new shock/spring assemblies in hand, I went tonight to put the car back together. Right side was no problem, but the left side....just wouldn't go all back together. I eventually realize that this is because the inner CV joint has, somehow, come apart. The inner end of the xle has pulled out of the inner joint - maybe this happened when I pulled the hub assembly out to get the shock out, I dunno. 

So now I've got about quadruple the work to do, because I have to, at the very least, pull the left axle out of the car and then get it back in. Is there any way I can get the joint back together without taking the axle out of the car, taking the boot off and essentially rebuilding it? And how did this happen anyway? Can this be less sucky than it looks? I doubt it, but if nothing else the commiseration may help.

David