ok lets try this again. between Infolinks and getting a popup saying "Congratulations I was the 7 millionth person to do something (IDK what, even) when I tried this post on my phone at lunch time.... and I lost everything I started, as this "congratulations" thing consumed my phone, only way I could get out of that was to shut the phone completely down... I HATE REDO's!!!!! I HATE REDO's!!!!!
Thanks Gene for your help.

I got all my parts ordered in Borgeson parts to build a shaft. Dam, was that expensive..... and that was with getting a huge deal on the lower coupler. I looked at cheaper (un named) brands, with the miles and age on this truck the cheap (probably Chinese) parts would have probably gotten me by but who knows> Borgeson was the only company I could find a sliding shaft in..... and IDK how well that brand plays with the competitors if one tries to mate them up..... with 226k and counting who knows how long this truck will be running......
I went with a sliding 3/4 DD into 1" DD shaft because after I saw the original one seized to a point I could not slide the halves together enough to dislodge the gearbox coupler, and had to cut the intermediate shaft as a result, made me realize that I would have to remove either the gearbox or column, in order to install a new built up coupler with a solid DD shaft.
I found a DEAL on a lower U joint coupler/vibration damper, brand new but out of package/ the guy had like 10 of them... $32 shipped. (I used the "make offer and he accepted/ everyone else wanted $90-100 more for the same thing in the same brand...) sliding shaft 18" $60 shipped.... and the upper U joint coupler everyone was priced the same at $75...... with tax, etc it'll wind up right at $175 about double what it should have cost me..... "aint much" of the total, but with now charging tax, I have another reason to hate Ebay..... my state varies from 6.25 to 9.some % and EPay pegs everyone at the highest rate, even though I live in part of the state that charges among the lowest sales tax percentage.....

I need this truck mobile again, tired of watching it sit..... I did move it from driveway to yard and back before I cut the shaft, rendering it dead..... it had sat long enough that the lifters all rattled when I 1st started it.... truck never does that if it sits less than a week-10 days/ish....
This has been demoted to backup truck/winter beater as I work 35 miles from home and all country roads in between...... but I like driving the 96 a whole lot better than my slow doggey 3.9 in my 99 2wd Dakota.