While trying to track down a soft 'howling' noise that sounds like a bad wheel bearing, I noticed that with the car in the air if I rotated the drivers side rear wheel back and forth I would get a clunking noise from the outer CV joint. I ordered a new CV joint, but when I went to install it I discovered the noise isn't internal to the old CV joint, but is from a loose fit between the inner CV joint ring and the drive shaft. The new CV joint also fits loosely and makes a similar noise.
Is there a way to fix this, or do I need a new drive shaft? If a new drive shaft does anyone know of a source for just the bare drive shaft? And how much should I care? While driving the car I don't hear any strange noises other than the howling which I pretty sure is from the passenger side rear wheel bearing. At the moment I'm in the middle of removing the hub carrier to replace the bearing.