Negative Houston New York. You just have to possess grit and determination. I installed this in my driveway. It was a multi-pint affair for sure, but installed over a weekend, in the driveway, no lift, using common garage tools, and several pints of home brew. ... IPA if I recall correctly.
I don’t know what led you to this conclusion, but as I stated, I got this thing in without dropping the drive shaft or on a lift. So, hopefully that inoculates Lucille against this kind of wear.
I was going to drop the d/s, but at some point in the process I looked and said to myself : “F this, I can get this installed without dropping the driveshaft.”
Now, I know it took me longer, but how much longer is complicated by not using a lift and not dropping the d/s. I started early afternoon on a Friday getting the brake lines adjusted and cradles in place. Saturday I hit up the front end, got things secured in the rear. I even called them once or twice with questions.
I buttoned everything up Sunday AM, double checked clearances, connections, bolts, etc. Took it for a shake down run, checked again, then took it out in 2H and did some teenage hooligan $hit to try and get some wheel hop. I didn’t.
I crawled underneath Lucille last night and inspected, nothing like your front end at all and the explanation seems plausible to me. Everything is looking good on mine.
Good luck with the repair and please keep us posted.
And Merry Christmas. I know it sucks to have to repair a mod, but look at it this way, you’ll get to reinstall the mod and that is almost as satisfying ;-)
