btggraphix wrote:
I think I've got it now....pull the axle out of the Jeep, sit it on perfectly level jackstands (that can be a challenge I suppose if the shop doesn't have a perfect floor?) and match the good side to the other. The broken side is the short side and there is hardly any tube exposed so not sure how they will rotate it but I guess they'll know. I guess the length of the tubes should be perfectly level along that bottom surface. I guess the main question I would then have is how much has to come off of the axle? Wheels plus brakes/calipers/rotors? Hubs too? Do the axle shafts even need to come off? Does the R&P have to be reset for backlash etc.? BTW they are 4.56 gears.
They may pull everything out. But I would think they may not even pull the axle out of the jeep. They can get it level on a lift and they can get easy welding access by disconnecting the shocks and lower the axle down some. They may just pull the caliper, hub stuff and axle (and maybe the knuckle) from the short side and work with that.
I don't know how hard it will be to turn that tube back to where it was. Some of those tubes are press fit and then plug welded. How much did the tube rotate?
For another $50 or $75 Jeep Inc could have put a real axle (HP D44) under the front of all those early TJ's and avoided this.
