Rear axle not centered SUA (1 Viewer)

[White Stripe]

The rear axle seemed to have shifted at some point to the right side. The right side tire sticks out an inch more on the right. So I guess it needs to move to the left a half inch. Weird I thought. So I measured the frame from different angles and it seems square. I loosened the u-bolts and the center pins were fine. Its gotta be from the spring perches down. Anybody ever experienced this? Who knows how long its been like this, my Cruiser has been in storage for like 2 years. Im trying to get her back up and running.

I noticed that right where the front spring hanger is on the right side that their are 2 rivets that keep the last bit of the boxed c-channel together. The inner c-channel has cracked and the rivets are doing nothing. The main C channel seems to have opened up a bit due to side stress from the off center mounted spring hanger. But do you guys think this could be my problem and force the axle over a half inch????

 

[Stumpalama]

Please post some pics so we can get a better sense of the issue.

 

[DougAustinTx]

The rear axle on my '79 also sticks out to the passenger side about an inch more than the left. Mine came off a 60 so not sure what the original differential housing looked like.

 

[White Stripe]

Ok well the guy in the following link has the same crack, his seems due more to rust, mine just due to years of 4wheeling, but notice how the main C on his frame has kinda opened up because it seperated from the supporing inner C channel.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/332165-newbie-here-77-fj40-frame-some-rust.html

But in this link he doesnt describe how he fixed it or if it affected anything. Im thinking that since the spring bracket is tilted slightly like his that with my 4 inch lift springs that their is enough of a angle to actually move the axle a half inch over. What do you guys think?????

 

[White Stripe]

This is the driver side on mine, the side thats not as bad. But I was able to get a clearer pic of this side. This side shouldn't be as hard to fix. On the bad side I am removing the rivets, my idea to close the C back up is to install bolts in place of the rivets, heat the area up, then using c clamps and the bolts get the main frame c channed to tweak back to where it meets the inner C. Then I will tack weld it, bolt the axle back int and measure to see if its straight now(man I hope it will be)put in permanent bolts, do final welding-really freakin hot penetrating welds, then heat the main C again to relieve any tension in its final form. Thats my idea, Im open to better or faster methods if you have any I just wanna drive this thing.

 

[White Stripe]

So I welded up the cracks and reinforced the rear spring hangers. The rear axle though still sits 1" to the right. I did notice the springs were feathered. This seemed unusual. So I took them apart and the center bolts were pretty rusty and deformed. I went to the hardware store and got some grade 8 bolts. A few bucks later and a lil time the springs were back on. I measured the axle and now the axle is off center by only 1/4 inch. I can live with that!