1983 Suburban - Front drive shaft, replace or rebuild?

[CharacterMatters]

Hello,

My 1983 suburban has some serious play in the front drive shaft.
Sometimes when I get on the throttle I can ''feel'' something in the front end pick up, when I let off the throttle, I feel it drop down.

I'm assuming this is the slop in the drive shaft I am feeling.
The U-joint feels tight.

The slop that I see is about 1/4'' or so between 2 tubes, the rear one is smaller than the other.

Should I rebuild the drive shaft or just replace it?
I'm guessing this is the original drive shaft, 123K miles on truck.

Any help here?

EDIT: Factory suspension, no lift of any kind other than 31'' BFG's

[sctrailrider]

Sounds like the "pick up" you feel is more in line with a broken motor mount, the worn shaft may be just another thing to address..

If the shaft is sloppy I would have a new one built..