Cheers for the help guys, the parts are on their way from the east coast. I'm still not understanding the idea behind the twist in the diff, I can see now that I've been under it that the diff isn't in the right spot but I can't see why it would have done it or how to get it back... I'm listening to you guys and trying understand but I havnt done a lot of work in these areas before... Help is definitely appreciated
when you raise or lower a vehicle with leaf springs, the distance in height between the axle and body changes, that change in distance results in the axle rolling forward (the pinion goes down) or the axle rolls back (the pinion goes up)
as you can see in your original picture the pinion is rolled forward i.e the flange where the c.v joint bolts to is pointing towards the ground.
that is no good
you want the pinion angle pointing upwards towards the back of the gearbox.
that is where caster correction shims come into play, these are a piece of steel that's cut at an angle and is placed between the leaf springs and the bottom of the axle, where the u-bolts are.
only other thing I can think of, and I cant remember if it does or not, but the rear axle may sit in a cradle that is attached to leaf spring, if that's the case you will be able to rotate the diff upwards by loosening the ubolts off and turning the diff
