Really good info guys - thanks. Sorry for the delay - I've had trouble posting until today. As for the axle, it has a casting number 2 018 188. And it looks like it was used on a vehicle with coil springs judging by the extra brackets and pads still hanging on it. After considering all of the advice you guys came up with, I was thinking that I would have to at least grind the brackets off & reweld new ones or maybe even replace the whole thing. So I soaked the U-bolt threads w/ liquid wrench & WD40, used a wire wheel on them,etc... and prepared to do battle, assuming that at least one would break since they were solid rust. I blocked the frame on both sides & supported the axle with jacks. Wonder of wonders, all eight nuts came loose, although not without a lot of effort and the use of a BFW (3/4" drive breaker bar borrowed from a neighbor)! Then it ocurred to my feeble brain that if I loosened the rear nuts and tightened the front ones the axle might rotate forward!! After a lot more liquid wrench and sweat (it was 92 deg and humid - no shade) I started to see results! Now the nuts appear to be evenly spaced on the U-bolts where before the front ones were not quite all the way on and the rear ones were almost out of thread they were on so far. After I had the axle almost rotated perfectly, just in time I noticed my new emer. brake cables were VERY tight - Yeah I went almost 15 degrees rotation. Thanks again - I would never have figured this out without your help!! Once I get the engine fixed I'll let you know if the vibration is gone. Darwin
