Axle pin won't align with axle... suggestions?

Installing OME CS033RBs onto my 2000 XJ. I have the leaf springs mounted, with a 2-degree shim. The leaf spring pin is an inch off. Pics below.

I've tried moving the axle forward, but it won't go. You can see one end of a ratcheting nylon strap that I thought might do the trick, but nope.

Do I need to drill a new hole through the springs or what?

Edit: Actually, what about drilling a new hole in the U-bolt plate? I can get the pin to drop into the front hole on the axle mounting surface.

Thanks in advance!

It looks like you got the spring in backwards.

make sure the slipyoke didnt pull apart but you should beable to pull the axle forward easily

Are you having the same problem on both sides? Pull the drive shaft, install the axle and then reinstall the drive shaft.

Loosen the ubolts on the other side.

Make sure the driveshaft is not bound

There is nothing that should be binding the axle.

I got it to align. I noticed the vertical shackle angle as the spring hung under the Jeep. When I pushed up on the spring by hand, I saw a slight improvement in the angle -- i.e., the spring moved rearward a tiny bit. This gave me the idea to jack the spring up independently of the axle and see what happened. This worked. As I jacked up the spring, it shifted toward the rear, and the pin eventually came into alignment. Below are a couple photos.

It still bugs me why I couldn't pull the axle forward. I was able to move the Jeep out of the garage and turn it around so I could do the other side this morning.

you likely couldn't move the axle further forward as the driveshaft was probably bottomed out in the slip.

Devilfrog said:

you likely couldn't move the axle further forward as the driveshaft was probably bottomed out in the slip.

Click to expand...

X2. Your drive shaft compresses when the rear end droops out. Might be time to look at changing up your rear driveline if you don't have something else limiting your rear droop.