OK, this is maybe a stupid question but here is the story. My 2002 V6 has 230,000 miles on it so I decided to rebuild the entire front end. Bearings, ball joints. tie rods, struts, upper and lower control arms, and CV half-shafts. I unboxed everything and laid out the parts. When I removed the right half shaft I grabbed one of the new ones, compared it to the old one, and put it in. When I did the left side I just grabbed the other one and put it in. When I finished the rebuild I was picking up all the old parts and noticed a slight difference in the old half shafts. The spline geared part that fits into the transmission is shorter on one of them. I'm not sure I noticed that when I first laid them out.

My question is, will the left CV half shaft only fit in the left side? And will the right CV half shaft only fit in the right side? Are they unique to each side? Is it possible to put them in the wrong side?

As I remember they were not marked on the shaft but may have been on the box ( which I tossed).

Any help would be appreciated. I haven't test-driven the car yet because I'm now working on the rear brakes.