Best source for replacement front driveshaft?

[dannyzabolotny]

Hey y'all,

As I mentioned in my X5 4.6 thread, my front driveshaft has called it quits. The splines on it are stripped after it slipped out of the transfer case. Thankfully it did this super close to my house so I wasn't really stranded or anything. The transfer case itself seems to be fine, the splines don't look too bad in there. That means I should be able to get away with just replacing the front driveshaft.

From what I've read, this is a pretty common issue with the E53 X5, so there are companies that make modified front driveshafts that are half an inch longer to prevent the splines from popping out. What's the best place to get one of those? I see plenty on eBay but I don't know if I can trust those. Anybody have any ideas/thoughts on this?

My particular X5 is a 2003 4.6, so it's the pre-facelift with the fixed-ratio transfer case. Not sure if that makes a difference but it's worth noting.

Thanks in advance.