Seems like my axle shaft won't fully seat

Ok, I was delayed for a while due to personal reasons but now I’m finishing up the RGA front axle shaft install and I think the front passenger axle shaft isnt fully seated.

I can get it to engage the splines and spin the drive shaft but when I compare it to the driver side, it seems like I have almost a quarter inch further to go to get the passenger side to fully seat. Just going by a visual comparison, haven’t measured yet. I’ve cleaned the tube, pulled it out several times and tried to twist and wiggle it differently when going in and every time no matter what I do it stops at the same spot on install.

Again it will engage the splines and turn the drive shaft, but seems like it’s not fully seated and there is definitely a visual difference in how far the driver side goes in vs how far the passenger side goes in.

Is there a variance between the two sides? Is this normal? If not, any suggestions?

Thanks guys.

By the way, I’ve searched and googled this for about half an hour and couldn’t find anything. If you can find a link to another thread that would be helpful also.
Thanks

I haven’t tried that yet. I figured the shaft would pull a little further out when I tightened the axle nut?

Ok I just tried test fitting the unit bearing on the passenger side. I tightened the bolts all the way but did not torque. It did not make a difference.

Here are the pics.

the top picture is the driver side
Bottom picture is the passenger side.

They are the USA made RGA. I’m pretty certain they are the larger 1350s

Ok so I just talked to brook at RGA and he said that it’s fine as long as I have 1/2” of spline engagement. (I just changed gear oil so I’m debating whether or not I need to drain it and pull the cover again to measure spline engagement) ??
Mine seems to engage the Splines fine and the drive shaft spins when I rotate the axle shaft.

He also said that there is a variance in the design to allow for proper fitment for the use of various aftermarket lockers. Something about the cross pin engagement being different for some lockers. So they designed it to allow for the use different aftermarket without having issues locking up. My locker is factory rubicon.

@freedom_in_4low I asked about the u-joint out of line with the ball joint axis and his response was asking me if I could turn the wheels all the way to each side without binding. I tested and I could without binding, so he said it would be fine.

He said I was over thinking it. It just seems very odd and I wanted to verify before I drove it and broke something.

So for anyone else that may have this problem, I was told by RGA that it is normal and as long as I have 1/2” of spline engagement and everything rotates fine that there is no issue. But if you’re having this same issue you may want to call RGA yourself and verify because I’d hate to be responsible for giving the wrong advice for your particular situation that ends up in something breaking on someone else’s jeep.

I’m still skeptical. It just seems odd. But I explained the situation in detail as best I could and the manufacturer said i was overthinking it and it would be fine.
I really hope so. I’ve got some cash tied up in these axle shafts and I’d hate for something to break and take out the differential, shafts, unit bearings etc etc

I’ll move on to some other maintenance and upgrades for now and wait until later tonight to torque everything down.
That way I can see if I get a few more responses before I make the decision to torque everything down and drive it.
Thanks for the help guys.

Well I’m about to put the tires on and torque the axle nuts. It will probably be later tomorrow before I can drive it. Still have to install the MML. Wish me luck.