Reinstalling Front Axle - Method & Aligning Parts

nfarrar

nfarrar

New member
A few weeks ago I bent my front axle. I disassembled everything, took the axle off, and brought it to a professional to straighten, sleeve & add some welded bracing. I'm attempting to reinstall it, but am having trouble getting everything to line up. Not seeing much information out there on this process; lots on replacing axle shafts and such, but not on reinstalling a fully disconnected axle.

I've gone through a couple attempts to get this back on myself, but things just don't seem to line up correctly. I've got some photos to show it's current state, here: axle_alignment.

Currently, it's sitting as follows:

  • I've got the drive shaft reconnected, sitting level with the differential, and the bolts are torqued to specs (I didn't reapply loctite though).
  • I've got the coil springs installed (with a teraflex 1.5" leveling kit, which included coil spacers and extended-length sway bar end-links) and I've aligned the them on both sides so that the springs are sitting with correct vertical orientation.
  • I've got everything else currently disconnected (trackbar, sway bar end-links, control arms)
  • axle is currently sitting on a couple of 3-ton jack stands and i'm using a 3-ton floor jack to reposition it

As you can see from the pictures, when the axle is sitting like this:

  • both lower control arms appear to be about 0.5" too short for the brackets to line up correctly (Note: the driver side is the original, the passenger side lower control arm is a Mopar replacement from Quadratec)
  • both upper control arms appear to be about 0.5" too short for the brackets to line up correctly) (Note: the driver side is the original, the passenger side upper control arm is a Mopar replacement from Quadratec)
  • the front track bar is just slightly too short to align properly for the bolt to fit in

I've tried several times get everything reattached by starting where things would fit, then trying to reposition for alignment ... last night I got everything bolted in except the upper control arms. By tilting the axle so that the rear of the diff case was slightly elevated I was able to get the outsides of the brackets to line up with the upper control arm and insert the bolt, but the insides of both were off and the axle couldn't be repositioned at that point, so I couldn't get the bolts all the way through (I was also nervous that forcing it like that could cause damage, so I didn't - not that I'm sure I could have).

So I'm currently at a loss. Not sure exactly what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Relink to album: Axle Alignment Photos.
 
Last edited:
J

JKDream

Guest
nfarrar said:
A few weeks ago I bent my front axle. I disassembled everything, took the axle off, and brought it to a professional to straighten, sleeve & add some welded bracing. I'm attempting to reinstall it, but am having trouble getting everything to line up. Not seeing much information out there on this process; lots on replacing axle shafts and such, but not on reinstalling a fully disconnected axle.

I've gone through a couple attempts to get this back on myself, but things just don't seem to line up correctly. I've got some photos to show it's current state, here: axle_alignment.

Currently, it's sitting as follows:

  • I've got the drive shaft reconnected, sitting level with the differential, and the bolts are torqued to specs (I didn't reapply loctite though).
  • I've got the coil springs installed (with a teraflex 1.5" leveling kit, which included coil spacers and extended-length sway bar end-links) and I've aligned the them on both sides so that the springs are sitting with correct vertical orientation.
  • I've got everything else currently disconnected (trackbar, sway bar end-links, control arms)
  • axle is currently sitting on a couple of 3-ton jack stands and i'm using a 3-ton floor jack to reposition it

As you can see from the pictures, when the axle is sitting like this:

  • both lower control arms appear to be about 0.5" too short for the brackets to line up correctly (Note: the driver side is the original, the passenger side lower control arm is a Mopar replacement from Quadratec)
  • both upper control arms appear to be about 0.5" too short for the brackets to line up correctly) (Note: the driver side is the original, the passenger side upper control arm is a Mopar replacement from Quadratec)
  • the front track bar is just slightly too short to align properly for the bolt to fit in

I've tried several times get everything reattached by starting where things would fit, then trying to reposition for alignment ... last night I got everything bolted in except the upper control arms. By tilting the axle so that the rear of the diff case was slightly elevated I was able to get the outsides of the brackets to line up with the upper control arm and insert the bolt, but the insides of both were off and the axle couldn't be repositioned at that point, so I couldn't get the bolts all the way through (I was also nervous that forcing it like that could cause damage, so I didn't - not that I'm sure I could have).

So I'm currently at a loss. Not sure exactly what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Relink to album: Axle Alignment Photos.
Click to expand...

I hate to break it to you, but you need to purchase a new axle. I went through this a few months ago.
I bent my Dana 44 - straightened it and trussed the housing. It lasted a couple of months until the tube that was bent pulled out of the diff.
Once you stress the inference fit in the cast center section it won't matter how much bracing you have, it will still bend and eventually break.
I'd really stress not re-installing that diff. I was lucky to catch mine separating while checking balljoints.
 
Speedy_RCW

Speedy_RCW

Hooked
nfarrar said:
A few weeks ago I bent my front axle. I disassembled everything, took the axle off, and brought it to a professional to straighten, sleeve & add some welded bracing. I'm attempting to reinstall it, but am having trouble getting everything to line up. Not seeing much information out there on this process; lots on replacing axle shafts and such, but not on reinstalling a fully disconnected axle.

I've gone through a couple attempts to get this back on myself, but things just don't seem to line up correctly. I've got some photos to show it's current state, here: axle_alignment.

Currently, it's sitting as follows:

  • I've got the drive shaft reconnected, sitting level with the differential, and the bolts are torqued to specs (I didn't reapply loctite though).
  • I've got the coil springs installed (with a teraflex 1.5" leveling kit, which included coil spacers and extended-length sway bar end-links) and I've aligned the them on both sides so that the springs are sitting with correct vertical orientation.
  • I've got everything else currently disconnected (trackbar, sway bar end-links, control arms)
  • axle is currently sitting on a couple of 3-ton jack stands and i'm using a 3-ton floor jack to reposition it

As you can see from the pictures, when the axle is sitting like this:

  • both lower control arms appear to be about 0.5" too short for the brackets to line up correctly (Note: the driver side is the original, the passenger side lower control arm is a Mopar replacement from Quadratec)
  • both upper control arms appear to be about 0.5" too short for the brackets to line up correctly) (Note: the driver side is the original, the passenger side upper control arm is a Mopar replacement from Quadratec)
  • the front track bar is just slightly too short to align properly for the bolt to fit in

I've tried several times get everything reattached by starting where things would fit, then trying to reposition for alignment ... last night I got everything bolted in except the upper control arms. By tilting the axle so that the rear of the diff case was slightly elevated I was able to get the outsides of the brackets to line up with the upper control arm and insert the bolt, but the insides of both were off and the axle couldn't be repositioned at that point, so I couldn't get the bolts all the way through (I was also nervous that forcing it like that could cause damage, so I didn't - not that I'm sure I could have).

So I'm currently at a loss. Not sure exactly what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Relink to album: Axle Alignment Photos.
Click to expand...

Since none of your arms or track bar are adjustable, it is what it is. I suggest takin the springs out so you are not fighting them. Bolt up lower control arms, then upper arms followed by track bar. You may need a hand or ratchet strap to aid in the track bar connection. Then install Your springs and bolt up the shocks.


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
Disconnect the drive shaft. Don't worry about that nor the track bar until it's back on the ground.

Install the upper arms first, leave bolts loose.

Then using a jack, you'll have to twist the axle to get the lowers to line up. Install those bolts and leave them loose.

Then tie up the other loose ends like drag link, tie rod, shocks, etc, make sure coils are seated, brake lines, etc.

Then lower vehicle on the ground with tires on.

Install drive shaft, sway bar links, track bar.

TORQUE ALL BOLTS WITH THE VEHICLE ON THE GROUND WITH FULL VEHICLE WEIGHT ON THE SUSPENSION.
 
J

JKDream

Guest
Must say I'm a bit surprised that nobody else has chimed in on him reinstalling a bent axle :thinking:
 
nfarrar

nfarrar

New member
JKDream said:
Must say I'm a bit surprised that nobody else has chimed in on him reinstalling a bent axle :thinking:
Click to expand...
This was mentioned above:

JKDream said:
I hate to break it to you, but you need to purchase a new axle. I went through this a few months ago.
I bent my Dana 44 - straightened it and trussed the housing. It lasted a couple of months until the tube that was bent pulled out of the diff.
Once you stress the inference fit in the cast center section it won't matter how much bracing you have, it will still bend and eventually break.
I'd really stress not re-installing that diff. I was lucky to catch mine separating while checking balljoints.
Click to expand...

The professional I used to straighten and reinforce the damaged axle seemed really knowledgable and awesome to me. He custom built all his own jigs to straighten various axle's - and being in Colorado Springs (where more Jeeps are sold than anywhere else) - he does several of these per month. He took a look at it first to assess the damage, and then assured me the bending was minimal (less than an inch in bend) and that with the sleeves and reinforcements it would be stronger than it had been.

That being said; I'm new to all this stuff and have no context or point of reference to accurately judge his quality of work or claims to improved strength. I'm also planning to drive it very easily over the next few months and through the winter (though I'll be back to offroading next summer) so I can asses how well it's performing under minimal stress. If it looks like it's a safety issue/risk, I'll 100% replace the axle.
 
J

JKDream

Guest
nfarrar said:
This was mentioned above:



The professional I used to straighten and reinforce the damaged axle seemed really knowledgable and awesome to me. He custom built all his own jigs to straighten various axle's - and being in Colorado Springs (where more Jeeps are sold than anywhere else) - he does several of these per month. He took a look at it first to assess the damage, and then assured me the bending was minimal (less than an inch in bend) and that with the sleeves and reinforcements it would be stronger than it had been.

That being said; I'm new to all this stuff and have no context or point of reference to accurately judge his quality of work or claims to improved strength. I'm also planning to drive it very easily over the next few months and through the winter (though I'll be back to offroading next summer) so I can asses how well it's performing under minimal stress. If it looks like it's a safety issue/risk, I'll 100% replace the axle.
Click to expand...

What I was getting at - is I'm surprised anyone is telling you how to reinstall it instead of telling you not to.
Mine was bent less than an inch as well, that doesn't really matter because the metal/interference is already stressed.
Sleeves/Trusses etc are a complete waste of money on a GOOD axle - I argued against this at first as well - and guess what happened?
I'm not trying to harp on you, but I've been down this road and wasted a shit ton of money before I listened to other people and replaced the axle.
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
Sleeves only add minor strength to the tubes but do not prevent the tubes from bending at the pumpkin where they all bend at. Likely the sleeves did nothing for you. With that being said, I recommended the install instructions simply because I could see you already spent the money and were right there in the process installing the axle. Can't say whether or not you won't have an issue in the future, but I was merely informing you how to get that axle back in the vehicle as you were having issues getting it installed.
 
nfarrar

nfarrar

New member
JKDream said:
What I was getting at - is I'm surprised anyone is telling you how to reinstall it instead of telling you not to.
Mine was bent less than an inch as well, that doesn't really matter because the metal/interference is already stressed.
Sleeves/Trusses etc are a complete waste of money on a GOOD axle - I argued against this at first as well - and guess what happened?
I'm not trying to harp on you, but I've been down this road and wasted a shit ton of money before I listened to other people and replaced the axle.
Click to expand...

Whoops, wasn't being sarcastic or dismissing your advice - didn't realize you had posted both till I just reread. I'm not arguing that what I'm doing will be ok; I've got no experience with this and have no frame of reference or context to have any kind of educated opinion. Was just relaying what I was told by the professional that did the work on it for me.

WJCO said:
Sleeves only add minor strength to the tubes but do not prevent the tubes from bending at the pumpkin where they all bend at. Likely the sleeves did nothing for you. With that being said, I recommended the install instructions simply because I could see you already spent the money and were right there in the process installing the axle. Can't say whether or not you won't have an issue in the future, but I was merely informing you how to get that axle back in the vehicle as you were having issues getting it installed.
Click to expand...

Yep; I already had the work done, already spent the money. Had I asked here first, I might have just simply replaced the axle first, but the information I had at the time suggested straightening and reinforcing was acceptable. Since I've already done that, I can't convince myself to abandon it at this point and go buy a new one without testing it first. But this information is very valuable, I know I need to monitor this very carefully and that there may be compounding problems later on that will require me to abandon it.
 
J

JKDream

Guest
nfarrar said:
Whoops, wasn't being sarcastic or dismissing your advice - didn't realize you had posted both till I just reread. I'm not arguing that what I'm doing will be ok; I've got no experience with this and have no frame of reference or context to have any kind of educated opinion. Was just relaying what I was told by the professional that did the work on it for me.



Yep; I already had the work done, already spent the money. Had I asked here first, I might have just simply replaced the axle first, but the information I had at the time suggested straightening and reinforcing was acceptable. Since I've already done that, I can't convince myself to abandon it at this point and go buy a new one without testing it first. But this information is very valuable, I know I need to monitor this very carefully and that there may be compounding problems later on that will require me to abandon it.
Click to expand...

Completely understandable, like I said I'm not trying to give you a hard time, just looking out for a fellow Jeeper. Definitely keep an eye on it, when you get it installed and the tires back on have someone else lower the jack while you watch the cast center section. If the tubes move at all don't drive on it. If it's still bent you'll likely have noticable camber as well. I certainly did but chalked it up to balljoints since we ran an alignment bar through it after straightening and it never showed any signs of still being bent until weight was put on it.

At the end of the day - most shop people are sales people. A lot of them don't have your best intentions in mind, rather the money in your pocket. Luckily, people on this forum specifically tell it like it is. Hopefully it all works out for you.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
nfarrar

nfarrar

New member
JKDream said:
Completely understandable, like I said I'm not trying to give you a hard time, just looking out for a fellow Jeeper. Definitely keep an eye on it, when you get it installed and the tires back on have someone else lower the jack while you watch the cast center section. If the tubes move at all don't drive on it. If it's still bent you'll likely have noticable camber as well. I certainly did but chalked it up to balljoints since we ran an alignment bar through it after straightening and it never showed any signs of still being bent until weight was put on it.

At the end of the day - most shop people are sales people. A lot of them don't have your best intentions in mind, rather the money in your pocket. Luckily, people on this forum specifically tell it like it is. Hopefully it all works out for you.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks again. I'll see what happens. Trying to do this myself is a major pain, but all my buddies are currently busy. Just ordered a pair of floor jacks with extended height ... cause the way it's sitting right now, I'm not going to be able to get the coil springs back on once the axle is hooked back up. I may have to cry myself to sleep if next week I'm just ordering a ProRock 44 ... but I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience.
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
nfarrar said:
Awesome, thanks again. I'll see what happens. Trying to do this myself is a major pain, but all my buddies are currently busy. Just ordered a pair of floor jacks with extended height ... cause the way it's sitting right now, I'm not going to be able to get the coil springs back on once the axle is hooked back up. I may have to cry myself to sleep if next week I'm just ordering a ProRock 44 ... but I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience.
Click to expand...

Why won't the springs go back in ?
 
nfarrar

nfarrar

New member
WJCO said:
Why won't the springs go back in ?
Click to expand...

The jack I'm currently using won't go high enough to let them fit back in. That's why I put them in first (which as the advice mentioned, made it so I had to fight with them while trying to reconnect everything). They're out now, much easier to work with the axle (duh).
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
nfarrar said:
The jack I'm currently using won't go high enough to let them fit back in. That's why I put them in first (which as the advice mentioned, made it so I had to fight with them while trying to reconnect everything). They're out now, much easier to work with the axle (duh).
Click to expand...

You may be able to use a block of wood or two as a spacer to raise it higher.
 
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