Rotate drive shaft to alight spline?

[Shorthaul]

I have my 31 AA, rear wheels off the ground and when spinning one wheel the other revolves in the opposite direction. Normal. But why doesn’t the drive shaft revolve. I haven’t removed the drive shaft from the rear end prior to this. Is this normal.

[Bob C]

That's normal because of the spider gears. Here's a video on how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC6fsNXdcMQ

[Shorthaul]

Thanks

[Shorthaul]

I want to add to this question. The drive shaft should rotate freely with a little effort. It wouldn’t, I didn’t want to damage the spline so I installed the universal joint, also the short shaft without the outer housing, I was able to put vice grips on the shaft and with some effort was able to get the shaft to revolve which got easier after some twisting.

[Bob C]

Are the brakes dragging a little?

[Shorthaul]

No, the brakes aren’t connected. The wheels turn freely. I’m just starting to put the truck back together. I would Ike to install the running gear, wheels, before installing the engine and transmission. Every thing I read says I can’t do that because I have to attach the rear drive shaft last. I couldn’t figure out how to move the rear end back and forth because of it being so heavy and clumsy. I have now hung it on ratchet straps from the frame and I can raise it to the proper height and swing it forward to attach it to the intermediate shaft and universal joint. My issue was being able to rotate the drive line to align the splines.