After having to replace my Dana 30 axle housing and diff due to serious noise issues, I want to sort out what is the problem, so I can know what to do with the used parts

My number one suspect is the axle housing yoke on the long side that retains the steering knuckle got bent when I hit one of the many bad potholes we have

I need to try and measure this, which is not easy

My intended method is to make thin aluminum templates and compare them replacement vs old

A slight clue, that I noticed beforehand, is that lower ball joint nut was slightly closer to its brake shield than the short side (about 1/8" vs 1/4")

On the new installation, this distance is the same both sides, about 1/4"

Not a very accurate method I know, but it is surprisingly difficult to measure the problem

As I have heard this is a known issue, and there is a lot of clever dudes on here, I am hoping that someone can suggest something

The problem with the Al templates is there is only a short distance of axle tube to "sit" them on

I do not believe the diff carrier or axle shaft is faulty

I checked the Pinion yoke before removal, and could not detect any excessive freeplay

Have removed the Pinion gear, and I thought maybe it was the Pinion bearing after all, but reading the FSM (after I removed it), said pinion removal destroys the bearing

All suggestions on how to check whether the axle housing yoke is bent welcome, I have the bare housing sitting there

 

I figured somewhere online there had to be some blueprints for them.
So not sure exactly what you mean by housing yoke.
Guessing you mean pinion yoke and not slip yoke but....
Anyway they do have some diagrams here if you can figure out which would be yours.

https://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/c43_jeep.html

Also betting if you look up the U-Joints that you might find some too.
Maybe this will help?
LOL.

 

The part marked "Axle Yoke" may be displaced with respect to the horizontal axis of the axle housing tube..ie bent upwards by road shock

I encountered this issue on a vehicle many years ago

It seems all other parts as ok, as I substituted, entire axles and wheel hub bearings with no change, the unis have no slop at all

replacing the entire assembly cured the noise issue, which was not one I felt I could ignore

 

Sorry.
Wasn't even close to understanding what you were talking about.

 

I would probably try to make a rod that fits snug between the upper and lower ball joint bores then use an angle finder to measure caster. This would show you if both ends of the yoke are bent.

Or maybe you could just use some calipers to measure the distance between the "ears" of the steering yokes (more commonly called C's). This would show if only one end of a yoke is bent.

 

So I checked the wheels camber as one of the first things, and this was within spec, both sides both close to 0* on the ground

I would calculate to expect ~1* degree camber if the vertical displacement of the C is ~3/16"

You mention castor, I have not attempted to measure that

I have a few more ideas to try

getting an accurate measurement is not easy, for instance, an angle finder will not give an accurate interpretation unless everything is level to start