swoop, my dissertation was not aimed at you or anyone in particular.
It was aimed squarely at getting past the mindset that this is a drive axle issue. The spinning drive tire might only be a symptom while the real issue may very well be in the realm of frame geometry as the cause.
Absolutely nothing wrong with yanking the axle shafts out for an inspection, but I offer a few alternative tests, which require the truck to remain fully assembled to accomplish.
And you are right about "vague description", but that may be more from his unfamiliarity with fork lift terminology and mechanical testing than being intentionally sketchy.
Anyhow, I'm not trying to one up anybody. just trying to cover all the bases.

Let me share this tale of 2 incidents that happened in our shop some time ago involving 2 other mechanics.
You have probably heard of them previously. Their names are Mechanic A and Mechanic B.
Mechanic A had jacked up one side of the frame to replace a defective wheel bearing on the right side steer axle end.
In the course of his work, he uses a 1/2" thick piece of steel bar as a drift to hammer on the damaged inner bearing race which is stuck to the spindle.
After freeing the race, for some reason he lays the flat bar on the axle beam, right under the axle stop, and forgets about it.
After he assembles the new parts and lowers the truck to the ground, the truck will not move because the right drive tire is just barely touching the floor.
He puzzles over the problem and is just about ready to pull his hair out when he comes to me and wants some help.
I did not see him leave the bar on the axle but after I saw the wheel spin, I walked about 20 feet to the rear of the truck and told him to come look.
The truck looked like it was leaning to the left.
I told him something was not right about that and wondered if he had somehow gotten the wheel crooked or I don't know what.
I told him to jack it back up and let's have a look.
He jacked it up and when I looked it over, I spotted the flat bar.
I pointed to it and said "what is that for?".
He said "my bearing knocker".
He pulled it out and everything returned to normal.
So, Mechanic A is impressed with his new found knowledge and one day he catches Mechanic B with a jack under the left side of a truck while he is working on some brake issue.
Mechanic B is away in the parts room. Mechanic A gets his bearing knocker and places it on top of the steer axle under the axle stop and walks away covertly.
Mechanic B puts the truck back together and lets it down.
Yep, left drive wheel spins itself silly.
Mechanic B actually locates the sabotage pretty quick and while Mechanic A is laughing his head off. Mechanic B takes the bearing knocker and pitches it into the dark depths of our scrap metal bin behind the shop.