Hi Brian,
No expert here. Closest thing i have in front of me is a car manual for the '39 Chevy year. They say to support the torque tube on a jack , detach and slide the universal ball and collar back on the propeller shaft. Split the universal (usually held together with 4 1/4" bolts and collars. Relieve the pressure on the jack under the torque tube so it lowers down out of the way.
if the transmission has had water in it, there could be some rust on the bearings. There may not be the "cheap" way to fix it short of disassembling it, cleaning up the parts and installing new bearings.
Not sure if any of this helps or not. The link that they were giving you above is at
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com John
