I know this is silly to ask. but its also silly that it doesnt fit in 5 seconds. i have an rte adjustable pan hard bar and it will not fit in the slots. so i pulled the tabs out to try to get it to fit but its bent way to far and the bolt wont go through straight and its also hitting the differential. they did say the factory bushing goes on the frame side but i tried it the other way and it fits around the differential but still not into the slots.

what the hell is wrong here!?

you can see in the pics how far i bent the tab and it hitting the differential.

 

Your last pic is how it goes.
How much are you off at the frame end with the heim/spacers?

 

dang thats what i thought. So the first pic i posted is the spacers on the frame end. its almost 1/8" off. im not sure how im going to bend that back haha.

 

any way to use a long pipe wrench or real big adjustable to tweek it? should just be a matter of leverage

how much lift are you running? that looks real close to the diff cover, is it gonna clear?

 

You could try opening up the bracket, or look for some different heim spacers that are narrower.

 

I tried all night trying to bend those tabs. i had a 4ft bar but there is no way for me to bend that haha. i used angle grinder to shave some off of each side of the bushing/spacers. its all i had and the dremel didn't seem like it was taking any material off. now it fits! and less steering vibes at freeway speeds!

new problem though the steering wheel isn't centered. is it because i messed with the length of the new pan hard bar or because the bushing was so knackered? It was off to the right a little after i had an alignment done but now its way off to the right.

thanks!

 

you moved where the axle sat, just need to adjust the drag link, it the tie rods in front of the axle

loosen the adjusters on the ends and just turn it with steering wheel unlocked should not take much

 

Verify your axle is centered first, then adjust the drag link.

 

Thats what i thought. I was just confused on why it changed the steering wheels position.

As far as i can tell, its centered. From the middle of both bolt holes the factory one was 32.5" and the new one on the truck its 33"

 

I'd park the truck level. Then use a plumb-bob from the frame to the axle to verify the axle is centered.