1953 Ford: 17 and 28 spline axle shafts??

[V8COOPMAN]

More splines usually indicates a more robust design. The infamous "nine-inch" Ford rear ends which began in '57 ALL had 28-splines as a minimum. Some of ya know that it also became common to find 31-spline axles in "heavier-duty" and racing variants of the nine-inch rear. Modern transmission output shafts are another example of moving toward higher numbers of splines as they sought to keep-up with higher power outputs and torques. DD