i work in an auto salvage and have access to hollandar interchange information. looking at axle shafts, and it says 04-08 shafts are the same, and it makes a difference if auto or manual transmission. i just installed a shaft in an 04 that i took from an 09 and i can see no difference. any idea what the difference might be, and why auto or manual would matter?

 

likely how beefy they might be wrt certain parts within the whole assembly, there were definitely changes from 2004-2008 6 spd to the 2009, the early 4ATs didn’t have a limited slip diff and given the power difference they’re likely less durable at higher engine output levels like various other 4AT model parts. It never made any sense to me to have different parts between the 4AT and 6spd variants when you consider all that goes with tracking and maintaining them. Have to question if whoever made those decisions was screwing up in the long run.
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thanks for the insight