Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) poses a risk to individuals of all ages and activity levels, and it is especially common to those sustaining an intra-articular fracture. Variations in the accuracy of fracture reconstruction can result in altered joint mechanics due to residual incongruities of the articular surface. To investigate the link between altered contact mechanics as a result of fracture reduction accuracy and future development of PTOA, we developed a reproducible modeling technique for the talocrural joint of pigs with either an anatomic or stepoff reduction of an intra-articular fracture. Differing modeling techniques provided insight into the need for specimen-specific Young’s modulus versus a constant Young’s modulus based on species average. The quality of fracture reduction was associated with elevations in contact stress;​ those joints with the most incongruity, measured by the amount of articular step-off, had the highest amount of joint area reporting high contact stresses. These data describing contact stress distributions are valuable to those looking to link cartilage mechanics to biological phenomena.