Is it possible to straiten out a bent C??

I think ours is bent:


You can see the gap between the ball joint and knuckle in the photo.
We broke the drivers front axle and were pulling it when I noticed the gap. Another JKer we were with mentioned that he had one that was bent and got it replaced under warantee so he had the original just laying around (D44 with factory locker) so if mine is screwed and his can be fixed id like to "upgrade" if I have to do anything.

I'm taking it to the dealer this week so we'll see what they say first.

 

that looks like a worn out ball joint more then a bent "C"

 

I spoke with AEV about the C and they said that it is not the C, but the entire axle is bending slightly. It is noticable at the C, but according to their measurements it is in reality a slight bend over the entire axle tube.

The normal correction to this problem would be to use an adjustable ball joint, or one with the correct offset.

 

If it's the entire axle then using the EVO gussets isn't going to do anything to help, we'll need to brace the whole axle.

FYI I believe the D44 the guy has is out about 8 deg, do they make adjustable ball joints with that much "correction"?

 

I spoke with Jim who used to own Nth and now is part of AEV and they are thinking about making something to brace the entire axle. They don't think it is a huge problem yet though because with their particlar wheels they have only seen it happen when they have jumped the vehicles durring suspension testing, but they do have some ideas of what they want to do. Other than that they think it is only from other companies wheels / wheel spacers moving the wheels out more causing more stress on the axle as a whole.

 

Due to our measurements on many JK's, we have seen yielding of both the axle housing/tube and the C's. While the tube can and will bend under certain circumstances, we have found that yielding of the axle components is far more prevalent on the C portion of the axle than anywhere else.

We are in the process of producing a complete front and rear truss to help eleviate housing/tube yielding. Complete axle trusses become a tricky part to install, inorder to insure proper bracing of the housing/tube welding is a must, by doing so improperly the axle tube has potential to warp with the shrinking of the weld. Proper preperation and care needs to be taken when installing complete axle trusses.

Not saying that either the axle tube or C bending is Fulcrum's issue, hard to tell by the photo. Looks possibly like a worn ball joint.

The ball joint seperating is a fairly common problem with axle failure. By seeing your picture with the Unibearing and axle removed I figured that this may be the culprit. See the picture below.

 

Yeah I don't know what all is bent/broken yet. Like I said we broke the axle and it looks basically the same...



When pulling it I noticed the ball joint. I don't have any experiance with axles and this is my first break so if it's normal for the ball joint to pull out like that then I feel better, we'll see how the dealer deals with the axle and just hope for the best. I do plan on getting the gussets though for whatever axle I end up with.