stupid_mud_gremlins

OK, so here's the wonderful one...

Discovered while pulling the driveshafts off my truck (89 3vze) that the factory gears were 4.10's. Spindle painted pink on the rear... Now I assume this should match up on the front as well...same color, right? Not for me...my front is blue, which from my previous thread is 4.30 gears (I'm gussing a 22re as they're more common around here for a donor vehicle). Anyway...I found a rear to match up with the front, decently cheap too...60 bucks. Because of damage from having to break stuff to be able to drive home when the diff went...I need to rebuild the driveshaft (new U-joints) Picked up the full set, for front and rear. Low and behold, the two in the funky joint (double cardan I believe it's called) just off the transfer casewon't go in. So back to the shop...apparently this is the front drive shaft off of an earlier model truck/runner with the single axle on the front...wonderful! So get the new u -joints for that specific model and what do you know...they fit perfect. So I guess what I'm wondering is why would someone mix and match like this? Is the older driveshaft a direct bolt in to the newer V6's? Were the 22re's from 86-01(i think that's what it was) won't fit? All I can say is stupid people shouldn't wrench their own junk...lol What am I doing then right?