Hi Seth,
I thought that was how I understood it, the new axles use the more common 10 lug pattern, old ones are larger.
The new "pictures" I have of the front axle assembly answer a few questions.
1. The axle can not be narrowed, as the bottom A-arms meet at the centerline of the vehicle, they can't be any closer to one another.
2. The Freightliner setup has a traditional steering gear mounted in the center, where the oil pan would be if there were an engine over the front axle.
I still need to do some more looking at the new information I have, but it looks like the Freightliner independent front is not a good candidate for swapping into a front engine truck, and if it were, it would have to be used full width.
I think I found pictures of a bus chassis with another perhaps more swappable version of the ZF independent front axle, with an engine over it, and rack and pinion steering. I'll try to find those pictures again, and some more info on that chassis.
Grigg
