My two cents:

I would use only Honda axles, and I’d do them both. I’d have my independent mechanic, not the dealer, do the work. It seems strange that a Honda Dealer would recommend aftermarket axles.

I’ve not replaced an axle but, looking at the procedure to do so, it seems pretty straightforward assuming you have to proper tools.

You can get a feel for the retail cost (not what the mechanic would pay) by visiting a Honda parts store online.

 

^ agrees w/Doug

 

I snapped my original front passenger axle at the hub not too long ago, "short term" i got an axle on amazon in a day from TRQ on 5/12, so far it still feels great 4 months later. Time will tell but as soon as i feel something its all coming back apart and I'll have all 4 new oem axles on standby as well as a new bearing and stuff for the half shaft. Which totals to around 1500 +shipping/tax. I'm really all for using oem parts when possible but if you need something quick and can stomach a bigger cost down the line after saving for it, go for it, the trq axle was 90 bucks, i'd say i got my moneys worth out of it already. The driver axle will likely require some more transmission fluid to be added since that one goes directly into it and not into the halfshaft like the passenger one.

Once you get the suspension components out of the way, the drivers one is easy, prybar on the face of it and push, the prybar does need to be pretty straight though, id say around a ~30 degree angle is just about too much, maybe a giant flathead screwdriver would work better, i think i bought like 4 different prybars trying each out, cant remember what worked. Passenger one pretty much requires the flex pipe to come down to get a punch on it at the right angle which isnt hard if you live in a decent climate that doesnt salt the roads unlike me.