EDIT.. My reply was posted before i read you have it done.. Good Job
Rotating the knuckles is a excellent choice.. And very common to a lot of folks. It really is not very hard to do and If you figure everything out you can get everything Just right(geometry, pinion angle and so on) I have built wider toyota fronts and always set up my pinion angle where it should be for you application. Right now I set up my 62" Dana 44 I narrowed it took 12* of knuckle rotation to get where I wanted it and still achieve my steering geometry I desired
Tell me this, What is the down side of having your axle properly set up? If your truck came from the factory with all the lift it has now I bet the pinion angle would be were it is supposed to be. Not only that a rotated pinion on a stock axle Achieves almost the same driveshaft clearance that a HP does on a non rotated housing as far as the typical set up out there
The folks that tell you it is stupid don't have any clue what they are talking about.. Go over to pirate and you can find many many folks who have done it.. As well as one of my toyota front axle wider threads.... Let us know how it goes..
Oh yea, Get a hold of Roger(search 4crawler on google) for some weld on shims to fit your needs.. It is a good choise instead of trying to conture the spring pads to the changing shape of the housing as you rotate them
here is a thread on the one toyota axle I made wider.. Gives you a idea what is involved.. You can do it with a grinder and don't have to remove the knuckle balls either.. for a simple rotate job it is a peice of cake in the garage.. Matter a fact you leave the housing bolted to the springs if you want.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=654231&highlight=front+axle+gettin+wider
