Well....the long and short of it was that I "fixed" my missing CV joint boot about three times week before last.
After I got the axle from Olthoff's, I installed it, as I documented above. But, in the course of everything I mushroomed one of the Trigo drive pins. So, I had Olthoff Racing overnight me some pins. No prob, right? Got'em, installed 'em, used the Trigo template to insure the were all lined up. Mounted the rear wheel...tried to wiggle it to make sure everything was tightened properly...CLUNK...CLUNK....CLUNK...! About 1.5" of movement from side to side...!!!!!!
Took it all apart again and reassembled everything again. Same problem. Took it all back apart again. This time, when I set the hub carrier on the 5 wheel mounting studs on the workbench, I could feel some play in the rear wheel bearing...I'd guess .020, or better. Too much for my tastes. So...off to a local Ford dealer on Saturday AM for a new bearing, which they were able to press in after pressing the old one out, etc. No play this time...reassembled everything for the 3rd time....CLUNK..CLUNK...CLUNK, about the same amount of play....
After some discussions with Dennis O on Saturday PM, he said to put it all back together and come on to Mid-Ohio...we'd fix it in the parking lot...he'd bring all the supplies he would need...axle, boots, crimping tool, etc. Hey, what could I say? With some concerns, I dropped the car off the jackstands and loaded it up late Sunday afternoon for the trip to Mid-Ohio on Monday.
Turns out the problem was two fold...one, the welds on the inside of the hub carrier had two little "blobs" of metal at the ends of each. These were causing the CV joint housing to not fully seat in the hub carrier. If we had a die grinder with us, we could have simply ground those welds down a little and the new axle would have fit. But, we didn't. Second, the crimped ring around the outer CV joint housing that held on the outer end of the boot was a little wider and taller than the original axle and CV joints, which caused the crimp to hit the blobs at the end of the welds, this preventing the axle from fully seating in the hub carrier.
So, not having a die grinder, the choice was to simply install a new boot on my old axle...since the CV joint was really still good...the boot was just missing. So, Dennis O pulls out a big vise from his trailer. The vise is mounted on a piece of 2" square steel stock...made to fit in a receiver of a trailer tow bar!!!
Pretty damned smart, if you ask me. Dennis stuck the 2" square stock in Ron Frohs' Navigator tow hitch, chucked my old axle in it and proceeded to drive off the outer end of the axle. He reinstalled a new boot, then hammered the axle end back on. Richard Price (an old friend) had a tube of grease in his "catch-all trailer"...and he actually found it...! Dennis shot the grease in the boot, burped it, and crimped on the sealing bands. He reinstalled the old axle and all the suspension parts, and about an hour later I was on the track...!
Man...talk about dealer support! I couldn't have asked for better support from my dealer, Dennis Olthoff.
We had a slight problem with wheel drive in alignment, but Dennis said he would send me 5 new drive pins once he got back to the shop. I'll call and remind him this week...he had a lot going on last week.
So...it's all fixed now...just need to clean up a few final details and I'll be good as new.
Thanks, Dennis...I appreciate your support and effort!!! Name me another SPF dealer who would have provided that kind of on-the-spot support...!