Back to work.
For the record, rear tension rods are NOT strong enough to use as a brace while you break loose the nuts on your axle nuts. But it had already been bent and re-straightened once so it was on the "replace" list regardless.
Marking the drive shaft flange orientation
Free at last!
Oh, what a surprise....Broken front diff mounts are a VERY common problem due largely to the ingenious design which includes relies on the shear strength of a rubber block to combat the pitch and dive of the drive shaft and nose of the diff wanting to go in opposite directions under acceleration /deceleration.
Diff was yanked and sent off to be freshened up with new seals and have the wear on the clutch plates inspected. See that cap next to the driver side axle? apparently when I was run off the road it put enough force on the axle to drive it into the cup, displacing enough grease/air to force the cap out of the backside. Since the axle was bolted to the flange it couldn't fall out so it simply allowed axle grease to be flung all over the place.....good to know.
