Then the first unexpected repair occurred.
While under the car to do the rear suspension work, I noticed that the right halfshaft boot had torn open. It was intact before TexFest, and only driven a short distance afterwards, so I knew it happened at some point in the 2 weeks before then.
Luckily the SDL uses the Annular axles, so they come off easy. I have a friend with an Astoria boot gun who was willing to reboot both axles for me, so off they went for rebooting with Astoria FB-3000 boots. I suspect this is not the first time they've been rebooted. There is old grease slung on the bottom of the car and the clamps that were on the boots said "Made in USA".
Fortunately the CV joints were still in good shape and moved smoothly, so they got repacked with grease and new boots installed. I've put a couple thousand miles on since with 0 issues, so I'm happy with the repair! Just more money the car unexpectedly siphoned out of my wallet
