Adventurous day today.
Went over to #metalmech's house today to borrow his steering rack to see if it would mate up to my frame, no such luck. His rack has the exact same measurements and is off the exact same amount my rack is off. My frame indeed was welded wrong. I will take no such other answers from anyone stating differently, from DF or anyone otherwise. I am over it and have moved on and I am holding no grudges. Moving on.
I had a buddy come over today and we used a 4ton hydraulic press to spread the two tubes apart while guiding the rack onto the bolts and into place. This worked quite well and only took two minutes. I only wish I had done this weeks ago. We tightened down the nuts and there ya go, one installed steering rack. Got the frame flipped back over and onto jackstands. Ready for the next step.
I picked up a new job a few weeks back and with it being first shift rather than second shift, I have time in the evenings to get a bit more done during the week. Hopefully this trend of progress continues.
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