Front axle shifted after lift – Jimny JB43 LHD

Question.

Why are you assuming the axle has moved and not the bumper?

What you are doing is measuring the gap between the two and either one moving could cause that difference, if I had to guess, I would say it's more likely for the bumper to have moved.

Get the car on an alignment rack, have a four wheel alignment done and get a print out of the before & after angles. The purpose of this is not to align the vehicle and correct the position of the front axle, but to determine the thrust angle, which is the rear axle relative to the center line of the vehicle.

Once you've established the thrust angle is zero or close to it, you will know that the rear axle is correctly positioned and then you can measure the wheelbase on each side which will let you know if the front axle has shifted.

I get your point, and I agree — measuring the gap alone doesn’t tell you which part moved. However, I don’t think it’s the bumper, because the difference only appeared after the car was lifted and put back down. If it were the bumper out of place, I believe the gap would’ve looked the same before lifting it. That makes me suspect some movement in the axle or suspension instead.

Worn out bushings?
Measured both gaps, also the back of the front wheel?
Installed castor correction bushings the wrong way?

Yes, I measured both gaps, including from the back of the front wheels — there was a difference I do not remember how much it was but it was.As for the castor correction bushings — I don’t have them installed (at least not yet), so that’s not the cause.I guess I’ll start by installing the correction bushings on the front radius arms and see what that’ll do.