One other thing to check is the drive shaft length. And not just at rest. Usually, if the drive shaft/rear end/suspension is just "bottoming out" for a split second and then freeing up, it will just get the thrust bearing. If the drive train is bottoming out and staying that way, it will burn up the rear crank thrust surface.
Good call. I have actually corrected this on this car. When I got it the driveshaft was way tight to get in and out
