I'm having axle fitment problems on passenger side axle. 8 3/4 details: sure grip (clutch); green bearings; 2.76 gears, no buttons. Background: swapped from 3.55 gears to 2.76. (I pulled differential out and sent to axle technician; axles were not worked on) Prior to the gear swap, had zero issues with differential- no leaks, no grinding, no whirring noises, no clunking, turns were not a problem. Situation: driver and passenger axles installed easy. When I torqued brake plate (35 ft lbs) to driver side, I checked for rotation of axle and differential (turned it at yoke) and rotated with minimal effort. Passenger side install was easy, but there were several problems that were encountered. First, passenger side axle flange butts right up against brake cylinder whereas driver side flange is 1" from brake cylinder. Second, and this is the weird part, when I tightened the brake plate, the axle would not rotate 360 degrees; it rotated only 355 degrees and would lock-up like a rod (just for example purposes) jammed the gears. Another way to put it is start at noon, rotate clockwise and differential noon point stops at 11. When you go back to noon, turn it ccw, it stops at 1, and again like a rod was used to jam it. I remove the pass axle and check for rotation. Driver side and differential rotated easily however many turns you want to spin it. So, I re-install pass side axle but do not tighten brake plate. Pass axle goes through complete rotations, brake cylinder though still butts up against axle flange. Again, when I torqued the brake plate, both sides only allowed 355 degrees of motion. This is what gets me.
Honesty time. I'm out of my element here. I recognize there is something amiss, but my lack of detail knowledge on 8 3/4s has kept me from seeing a solution. I recognize there is a spacing issue going on, but I do not know how it could have happened with what I thought was a straightforward remove and replace job. So, I'm calling on the Moparts experts to help out. I live in Texas, and it has been hotter than f$(@ down here which limits my time working outdoors, especially for my age. I'm going to remove both axles and reinstall them to see if maybe (?) the problem solved itself because I did a better job of re-installing axles. Or the Mopar god smiled on me. I will make attempts to check in regularly for updates on info, so my apologies now for not responding in a quick fashion. I appreciate the time you take to respond.