rearend alignment
 

I have 1 3/4 inches in front of my tire before it touches the body and approx. 4 inches to the rear of the tire. How would I go about centering the axle or can I do that.

You should post some pics of it, maybe have someone lengthen a set of control arms???? I don'r understand how it would get so far off center. Is it jacked up/lowered?

It's on the ground and it drove fine when I was driving it. The space is from the front of tire to the bottom of the well and the rear of the tire to the well. I will attempt to get my camera working to show you.

I know what your saying, the axle on my van seems like its set back slightly.

Are your tires larger than the original size?

As long as its the same, or about the same on both sides. I wouldn't worry about it.

The leaf springs have a little nub that rests in the spring perch on the axle housing. If the nub has broke, the axle would move causing the tire to jam into the body.

Is it possible the someone put the spring on backwards?

The spring has a center alignment bolt that passes through the spring. This bolt fits into a hole the Spring & Shock mount plate. There's a very small amount of adjustment range, perhaps 1/16". This does not account for your problem.

My guess is a previous owner has substituted springs from some other car, perhaps a Falcon that has different spring dimensions. The question I would ask is, "What is the distance between the center of the spring at the center bolt and the centerline of the front grommet?"

Once you know the distance for your model car, then measure yours and see if it measures the same. If it does, then the axle is mounted correctly. If not, then you'll need to assess exactly what you've got and how to make it right.