[v8volvo]

Mine did this in my gray 745 starting at about 300k. I was amazed how much noise and clatter it would cause. I remember I had to replace with a good used one as well because I couldn't find new at a reasonable price, and like you said, the shaft seems to not be rebuildable (at least not without reinventing the wheel). I think someone used to sell the shaft complete (IPD) but for big bucks. But this was probably 10 years ago that I had to do mine so who knows now.

7 and 9 series cars are definitely getting less common in junkyards. I assume you probably already looked at ebay?

Otherwise I'm guessing TurboBricks (which is currently down unfortunately) or a Facebook group might turn someone up with a parts car they could pull one off of? I have a 760 parts car sitting outside but unfortunately I don't think I'd be ready to get rid of the steering components yet because I have to move it around sometimes and steering helps for that..... plus it's buried in a snow drift at the moment anyway. :P