Update January 1 (5 months later):

Hello and Happy New Year. I'm happy to report that there have been no adverse reaction to nme removing the driveshaft. Living in the Northeat US, I was afraid that the car wouldn't handle very well in the snow, but it was fine. Replacing the drive shaft was out of ...

Well....

Thanks to everyone here, I just finished taking the drive shaft off of my 98 XC70 (157,000 miles).

description of problem - I had a rumble in reverse and when starting off and turning at slow speeds.

It took me about three hours to complete. I believe the time was longer for me as I ...