The trouble with driveshafts

So, when I purchased my van, I was aware of several defects. Some I was told about and some I found when I inspected it. These issues allowed me to get some money taken off the asking price.
The driveshaft was one that got by me.
I didn't see it, didn't expect it to be bad, didn't look.
I found it when I removed the driveshaft to change the universal joints.
I dropped it out of the van and onto the floor and pushed it so it would roll out from under the chassis.
I witnessed what can be described best as a trying to roll a banana across a table. It made one revolution and rocked back and forth in place. I just laid there staring at it, at first not connecting what I just saw.

Not my driveshaft but it's close.

I got up ad dragged it out and up onto the table. Upon inspection I found a large dent and good bend in the tube. I wasn't upset, I figured I could just get another one at the junkyard. I didn't know how wrong I was.
This van is a 1997 Dodge B2500. The year is important because it is the year dodge moved the engine forward about six inches. This 'transition' year makes it pretty much impossible to find a driveshaft. I even tried older years with no luck.
The closest I came to finding one was in a junk yard in Massachusetts, they had the exact year and model conversion van with the same transmission. They told me that they remove the driveshafts and toss them in the vehicle so the fork trucks wont damage it. Well, did I mention it was winter and the yard was all down hill and the van was about as far back as you could get in the yard.
After what could best be called an expedition, I arrived at my frozen prize. It was flat on the ground with no tires and about half buried in icy snow. I dug out the side doors and looked inside but I did not see the driveshaft. I sighed and started digging out the undercarriage. Once I removed enough of the ice coffin I peered in and found that the driveshaft was still in place and bend worse than mine.
The climb back to civilization was not only difficult, but without what I had gone to recover it was almost unbearable.
The guy at the desk apologized and offered to find me one in the vast collection of parts available on the online database of junk yards around the country. Luckily, he found one close and had it shipped.
After a few days they called and told me that it was there. I drove down that same day excited that my dilemma would soon be over.
I walked in and they went into the back room to get my new (to me) driveshaft. what I saw when they brought it out made my heart sink. It was aluminum. Being aluminum, it was for the later version of my van with the pushed up engine. They had me check it anyway.
I rolled it under the van and with the help of the counter guy we held it up in place. it shot past the transmission a good six inches.
We walked back to the office and apologized again and he jumped on the parts net once again. This time he found one that was steel, he confirmed it by calling them. And a couple of days later we had it.
Now, here is where I would like to make a suggestion. When you have a catalog of parts available online, there should be standards for things like descriptions, materials and most importantly, measurements. The length of a driveshaft is a crap shoot as far as who takes the measurement.
As I had found out. The one we got in was too long by about three inches. My best guess is that it was out of a van that had a different transmission or rear end or both.
One of the other problems with my van is that it is a conversion van. It is a B2500 (3/4 ton) but the driveshaft is not the same as a standard 3/4 ton. It's more like the B1500 half ton.
So, they told me that they were now losing money and they would not ship any more in. That door shut.
Discouraged, I drove back to the shop, pulled the driveshaft out and straightened and balanced it the best I could. I could not afford a new driveshaft so I left it.
Two years later I tried another junk yard and found one that appeared to be right. It sat behind me in my van for another year.
Three years later here I am going through the van to repair all the issues it has. I dropped the driveshaft out threw it up on my bench and compared the two. It was too short.

Again, not my driveshaft but it illustrates my point.

I'm going to make a sculpture out of it.
After searching the interwebs for a solution I happened on a shop in North Andover, MA who specializes in rebuilding driveshafts. That is were it is at the moment I'm writing this. I should have it back tomorrow. And the bill should be less that three hundred.
Between the driveshaft I bought a year ago and this one, it's still cheaper that buying a new one.
So I'm calling this a win.