05 aluminum driveshaft help

[zdonahoe]

Well I'm changing the u joints on this gos forsaken thing, and my issue is i can not for the life of me get the caps to fully seat and get the clips in. I'm using a actual press and everything. One side will fully seat how it needs to be but the other won't, won't go down last say 1/16th of a inch. I'm at my wits end over messing with this after getting the wrong part 3 times before getting the right one, plus the nightmare of getting old ones out, now this. I'm ready to scrap this thing and go find a steel driveshaft. Also I have checked the code, no misaligned needle bearings or debris either on both the hole for the cap and the inside of the cap and the joint itself.
So any suggestions would be greatly greatly appreciated.

 

[superj]

i wonder if the ears got bent and now are messing up the install?

 

[zdonahoe]

i wonder if the ears got bent and now are messing up the install?

What i'm going to check shortly, I thought same thing last night but was so late and pissed off that I stopped messing with it before I broke into 50 pieces

 

[SenorNoob]

Seems likely. For 1/16th I'd probably wedge something in there with a prybar try to straighten it back out.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Seems likely. For 1/16th I'd probably wedge something in there with a prybar try to straighten it back out.

I fixed the rear driveshaft in my F-150 by heating with a torch and hammering back to where it would accept a joint again after I blew a joint apart. Used an old joint with no needle bearings in the caps to help along with a straight edge and spacer, plus a torch and a couple sizes of hammer. The one local wrecking yard had 4 or 5 of the correct driveshaft but bent them all by lifting them with a set of forks wrong. The one jerk there said “we don’t bend driveshafts”, I wanted to drag him out by his ear and show him. Anyway, redneck straightening is a thing and it works.

 

[superj]

I have straightened driveshaft ears. Just a big wrench and push