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Inspection reveals a smooth groove in the driveshaft about where (or exactly where) the grease seal rides. I'm not sure if this groove is factory made or wear from the seal. The groove is .007 deep and the seal feels snug and right when slid onto the groove, and very tight (perhaps too tight) when not at the groove.
Can anyone tell me if their driveshaft has the same groove, or perhaps this is wear?
TIA, russ
P.S. Ignore the "wear on cogs" part of the pics. I made this pic up before I was fortunate enough to have Mr Robert Gray offer a replacement speedo drive gear to me.

That groove is seal wear. A new seal may not stop any grease leakage; however, some grease leakage at that spot won't hurt a thing. Any grease that travels down the torque tube will end up at the pinion bearings. I've disassembled a number of the AA rear ends and none have had any significant accumulation of grease at the pinion bearing.

You should be fine to reassemble your parts with the driveshaft you have.

Thanks Eric, that'll keep things moving forward nicely. Your help is appreciated.

My AA drive shaft has that same wear mark. I considererd tig-welding the small groove and then blending the weld into the diameter of the shaft. I had some concerns about heat distortion from the welding--so I scratched my head and thought about trying to get the seal to rub a different point on the shaft--also considered filling the groove with hi-tech epoxy or liquid metal to prevent leakage at teh lips of the seal----it sounds like none of these interventions are worth it.
vh

Agreed, particularly if a bit of leakage into the torque tube is of no particular concern. My new seal still has plenty of friction at the worn spot, just not as much as the non-worn portions (obviously) .

I re-examined my old seal and found that the tension spring inside the seal had partially come out from inside the seal and is what was wearing the groove in the driveshaft. Lots of wear on the spring.