99 gxe auto can't get half shaft into transaxle

just bought the car at a swingin price because of tranny leak, found the drivers side half shaft not all the way in the transaxle. I tried every pry bar i could get my hands on and nothing could get it in place, removed the wheel and ball joints and moved hub out of way and removed the axle. I inspected the axle, it is a new rebuilt one, shows no damage, inspected the transaxle carrier bearing and all looks good, the splines in the transaxle all look good, there is no rounding, mushrooming, or flattening of the splines and it lines up well with the carrier bearing. i removed the c-clip from the axle and tried to install it, it would only go in 2 1/2 inches out of 3 and stop solid. i have beat it with mallet, wood and metal pipe against the boot, all with no luck. i was going to go to checkers and compare with a new rebuilt one and probably buy it and try to install it. i have installed several before and never had a problem like this one. any input would be appreciated. i know that sometimes they are stubborn to get the clip to lock in, but this one is beyond stubborn and any ideas are appreciated. thanks

put grease on the splines and push the axle in while hit the end with a very large mallot. Axles are a pain sometimes. Make sure its the right one.

thanks for the reply, i fixed the problem last night. the half shaft that someone had put in the car had a manufacturing defect. there is a groove in the spindles that the lock ring is in to lock it in place and the spindles were offset from each other about 1/32" so it would only go in to the lock ring groove and then hit the spindles on the other end because they weren't lined up. i bought a new axle and installed it and completed in about 30 minutes, like it should have been. thanks again, you never know what you are going to get.