Q&A

 Master

there is a snap ring on the end of the half shaft that must compress to go into the transaxle. once inside, it must seat the snap ring inside. the hardest part is getting the shaft into the transaxle .

Roy

 Master

The halfshaft engages splines in the differential inside the transaxle which you should be able to see. If you had both shafts out, then the differential could have rotated and you won't see the splines. The big problem occurs if the differential turns and the sidegears (which have the driver splines) fall out into the transaxle case. That requires a teardown to repair. Hopefully, that hasn't happened.