So last night, I replaced the passenger side axle in my 03 A6 2.7T 6spd quattro. It took about 4 hours longer than it should (I did not disconnect the suspension/pinch bolt). The old axle had a part number of "4bo 407 272 j". It ended up being almost 1" longer than the new one I put in, and was a complete PITA to get free (it didn't want to clear the flange mounted to the transmission, no matter what I did). I ended up putting another jack under the lower ball joints and inching the entire hub up little by little until I was able to wiggle it out.

Is there any way to check for sure what the old axle was actually meant for? When I Google it, I come up with multiple different things, though the majority of them seem to be that the old axle was actually for a FWD A6, not quattro. Some do say it'll work for my car though, which is why I'm asking. The kicker is, per the carfax report, this axle was installed at a stealership.