Front axle questions

Sooo.... I got the engine,trans, radiator, linkages and crossmembers out of may van and now have a "big black hole" that I can stand in while examining the front suspension and making engine sounds:).......
The tie rod is nice and straight, but I notice that the axle is closer to it in the center by half an inch..... I also noticed that the steering arm on the driver side is longer than the passenger side arm by a half inch.... I've put a straight edge to both the front side and back side of the axle and it is not straight...
This really feels like a stupid couple of questions regardless of which way the answers go....
Is this normal stuff, or do I have twisted up junk that needs replacement?

A pic:



In the pic, you can see that tie rod runs parallel to the axle from the center over to the right, then moves away going to the left (longer) arm.....
The van is a 108, and I'm wondering if maybe the right wheel needs to turn sharper for some reason (like ackerman angle)

look @ that axle=BENT!!

Well yes..... It is not straight...... but..... there is no appearance of any damage anywhere and no gouges on the front side of that axle......Made me wonder if there is some unknown legitimate purpose to intentionally have put it that way (?) I guess I'll try to find a replacement....

I'd say a tree stump probably put it that way... Is there an imprint of someones forehead on your windshield?

The ackerman arms are suposed tobe the same lenght from the king pin center point to the tie rod end hole center. The 1st and 2nd gen arms where different lengths. maybe you have a mixed set.

You cant make a judgement on that by eye anyway. The tie rod always moves in at one end and away on the other endwhen turning. Are you 100% sure the wheels are dead straight forward?

That striaght axle may or may not be bent. Even it it deos have tree stump damage that dosn't mean its bad. its from the leaf spring pad out that counts. they are also flexable because you add different shims undr each leaf spring pad to get the right caster on each side. The real truth is what does the alignment angles say? and on the rack , if the ackerman arms are funny its going to show on the measurments as one wheel will turn way more than the other. and the van would steer very wierd making full turns you would always be skiddding one front tire or the other.

m1D