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Rear Axle is off center on drivers side

R

RadioShackSpecial

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Michigan
Specs: 96, 4.0, aw4, and Chry 8.25 rear end. Sitting on an RE 3.5" and 31" tires.

Not really sure how to describe this but I will give it a shot. The rear axle does not sit center in the wheel well on the drivers side. On the passenger side it sits right in the middle of the wheel well. It looked this way before and after the lift so I know it's not the leaf springs themselves. I did measure the wheel base and the drivers side is about an inch shorter than the passenger side. Is there any other way I can measure to make sure its the axle that is bent and not the leaf spring mounts or the body? I will post up some pictures tonight as I am at work right now.

Just fyi, the axle is lined up with the center pins on both sides.
 
Is it equal distance from front hub to rear hub? is is equal distance from leag bolt to leaf bolt? measure these. on both sides
 
Measure from the front hanger bolt to the center pin. The center pin sheared on mine once. It appeared to still be lined up because the sheared half of the bolt was still wedged in the hole in the spring plate.
 
lowrange2 said:
Measure from the front hanger bolt to the center pin. The center pin sheared on mine once. It appeared to still be lined up because the sheared half of the bolt was still wedged in the hole in the spring plate.
Click to expand...

Took it all apart over the weekend and the center pin is still there. I tried pushing the axle back with the stock jack but then the center pin would not line up with the hole on the leaf spring perch. :dunno:

I suppose I could notch the perch to make it work but to me that sounds kind of half-a**ed.
 
Measure the length of the springs, maybe there was a manufacturing error and the center pin isn't where it should be?

Otherwise, guess it could be your axle or frame that's tweaked up somehow, but it wasn't like that pre-lift :dunno:
 
It was bent/twisted pre lift. Sorry I thought I mentioned that. I thought that it was the stock leaf springs and once I swapped them out everything would be back to normal. But didnt work out that way.
 
Did you or someone recently put the lift on?
 
Lift has less then 1000mi on it. The axle was off center prior to lift lift as well. Stock it was off center in the same fashion as it is now. I thought it may have been the stock leafs but once I put the RE leafs on and got it all bolted up it was still off center.
 
Then is it the axle or the uniframe?

If it's the axle, I'll be shocked... normally a bent axle is pretty obvious when driving.
 
Well it does drive "side ways." Had my buddie drive my XJ while I drove behind him and the back end kicks out toward the right. Which makes sense because the rear axle is not in line with the front. I will get some measurements in a couple hours and post up, just wanted to know what to measure.

As for the UniBody, I did not see any stress marks, ripples, creases or cracks when looking at it. But I will check again.
 
Just to rule out the ridiculous, are you sure you don't have one pack in backwards? The pins are off center.

Measure from the center pin to both ends of the leaf, compare to other side.
 
Not in backwards. I did check.

Is it possible for the axle to be bent at the drum? Meaning the axle tube is straight but the hub/drum (on the outside of the leaf) is bent?
 
Glad you got it figured out.

FYI, it's possible for the axle to be bent there, but the brakes would rub extremely hard intermittently and you'd know it. Similarly the axleshaft can be bent, but you'd know it because the vehicle would be lurching up and down and the tire would be wobbling.
 
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