It's a beautiful day here in Columbus Ohio!!

I did a forum search, and did not find a related topic, so I will post my question here.

I have a 1996 Galant, and this past Christmas my drive shaft snapped while I was driving down my alley (I was two houses away from being home). My friend works on cars as a hobby, and his uncle works on cars for a living. He came over and we went to the auto parts shop and got a new one (the last one!). He got the wheel taken apart, and with some trouble got the old (half) DS off. Now, he and I both have been trying for a while now to get the new DS on. Has anyone encountered this problem, or have any experience with getting a new DS on? His uncle told him that it only goes on one way, and that it needs to be lined up and straight. He also said that it should take some, but not a lot of, hammering. We have hammered, lined up and held this DS straight, and we cannot get it to go in. We can get it most of the way, and we get it so close it is ridiculous that we can't just finish the job. We even tried putting the car into neutral, to no avail. Help!!

 

So are you saying that we could've bought one with a different number of splines on it? The auto-parts store said that all drive shafts for the 96 model should be the same, and they didn't even ask about this. I know that it should go in rather easily, and this is why I posted. So you think that either we are trying to put it into the wrong place, or that we need another DS with a different number of splines? I know that it only goes in one way, and our problem is that we get in, to the point that there is a half inch left to go, we just can't get the clip in to snap into place. Sorry if I am being confusing or what not, I know nothing about cars, and am doing my best to explain the problem accurately.