MUDN4R

I had just finished a 2 hour drive to NC pulled the driveway at our house stopped to turn the water on and then pulled away as i pulled away the rear end made a loud boom and the truck stopped moving... after getting it home and apart the driver side rear axel sheared right at the brake backing plate!!!! what could have caused this and should i go ahead as planned before finding the axel break and tear the rest of the axel down??? Is there any stronger axels to put in or are OEM good??



Thanks Bryce

MudHippy

First, WOW! I can't really figure it happening, but maybe the brakes seized on that side and as soon as you hit the gas, SNAPOLA!

It's just a few(ok, a dozen or so)more nuts and bolts to pull the 3rd member since your pulling the axleshaft, I would to be sure.

EDIT: Buy WabFab axles, link below.

dynamic73

That's very strange. It really takes a lot to break an axle like that. I broke one on my 94 Pickup just like that. But that was because I wrapped it around a light pole doing about 55 mph.

Another OEM axle should be just fine as a replacement. These axle's just don't break that easy. Yours is the only other Pickup I've seen. With an axle that was sheered off like mine. But I know why mine broke. Are you sure there's not more to the story?

MUDN4R

could it just be from wear and tear? when it happened i didnt stump on the gas or anything just went to pull away and boom!

MudHippy

Describe "wear and tear". Tell me some exhaustive story of ungodly abuse, and then, sure. But shy of that, no, they be some stout chunks o' steel. Which "should" outlive their owners, considerably.

justinking060310

HEY, good news - if you want to come down to Sandbridge Beach in VA Beach, I have a rear axle you can have for $75 - still in the truck though(well whats left of it)

Katie

MUDN4R

bearings and everything? those bearings are a @#*&^ to change out!!

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Rear axles - OEM and chromoly:
http://www.wabfab.org/products/rearaxle/rearaxle.htm

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

That kind of a break I'm thinking leverage....got wheel spacers on there?

MUDN4R

no wheel spacers.. managed to get the axel out looks like someone had taken a grinder to the very tip of the splines.. pulled the other side and the axel wasnt snapped but the splines looked the same as the sheared side!! tomorrow ill pull the diff and take a look. what do the axels connect to on the diff? spider gears? is it possible to install a lunchbox locker to replace the spider gear if they are

Kaleb

Yeah while it is out, why not install a locker. A lockrite should suffice.

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

Yep....a lunch locker has new side gears to replace yours.

One other thing I can think of that might cause it to break there....Did the brakes shoes on that side ever lock up or drag so hard that you could smell or see smoke? That might cause the axle to loose its temper if the heat transferred to the axle.

drew303

That's incredible.

Seriously... we've witnessed bearing failure here on yotatech but never axleshaft failure. This only goes to prove full floaters are both stronger and SAFER!.. and just better.. kinda like disc over drum

money vs safety... manufacturers choose MONEY, fookers.




anyway.... Definetly dont replace with OEM for quite a few reasons:

1) the cost of Alloy USA chromoly 4340 is $150 an axle vs $100+ for OEM... the 10yr warranty through marlin crawler should make the decision even easier!

2) OEM are WEAK.. they warp EASILY ... and the incredible failure you've witnessed should make it a NO BRAINER to get chromoly's... duh?



Its not cheap but I'd go and replace everything on that axle. That plain scares me, I wouldnt ride on that dif or anything in that axle housing without replacing it all.




As to the theory of brakes locking up... Thats a stretch to say the least... The brakes would have to be rubbing so severely you'd notice so much drag when driving you couldnt possibly ignore it. That kind of heat would cause the brake fluid to boil up and make the pistons fail before you caused such damage to the axle .... imo.


not to mention the stench from rubbing drum brakes is so bad you cant sit there and tell me you couldnt notice it. When i was having hell with my rear drums (before my disc swap) they would rub so bad the smell was by far so obvious it made people look at my truck. It's the same as when you heat up a clutch and can smell it burning, the stench soaks your nostrils

MUDN4R

No the brake didnt lock up.. it rolled away smoothly in 4wd after breaking but about the heat issue i have had both sides outer axel seal leak (twice on the broken side) im guessing cause of mud which is all thats around here.. when i took it to the shop to get them to press out the bearings they couldnt and used a torch to "burn" the bearings apart to get the axel free could this helped the failure? is there any tricks to getting the bearings out? so i can do it at home?

TORTIS

iTrader: (1)

good thing you were home and not out in the middle of no where. i've seen it on race cars but not on street vehicle. no more oem axles.

Elvota

Such a strange place to break.

Torch method could have introduced a lot of heat. How long ago was that done?

Does the bearing on the broken axle still spin freely?

How tight where the axle housing nuts when you took them off?

Do you ever jump the truck?

Do you carry a lot of weight in the bed on occasion?

I just got a pair of rear axles with bearings at the local "Pick and Pull" for $30 (1/2 price day).

MUDN4R

double post

MUDN4R

I pulled the diff out everything looks good and the spider gears arent striped or turned at all everything works good but since its already out imma do a lockright in the rear!! where is a cheap place to get one for my 8" rear??? also can i do this myself? im am a machinst and have acess to almost any precision tool out there!

MudHippy

You can get the bearings off buy cutting the bearing retainers off first(cutting WHEEL, no torch)carefull not to cut into the axleshaft. I cut most the way through the retainer then hammer on the cut to crack it, done on both sides it then falls off. Then bump the bearing off the shafts by any number of methods. I hold the backing plate with both hands and drive the splined end of the shaft into the top of my wood chopping block, forcing the bearing down and off the shaft.

How to get the bearing and/or severed axle out of that backing plate there...aye, aye, aye! Good luck on that.

EDIT: I suppose you could whack on the stub of the axle there to drive it out the other end. Hope it works for ya.


No special tools needed for a lockright install. Just a torque wrench I guess.

drew303

^^^

how are you cutting into the bearing if its stuck in the bearing case?

The PROPER and only way these bearings should EVER be removed is with a press and the proper jig to unpress them. A tube slightly larger diamater than the axle shaft with a flat flange on it is fine for pressing them in (infact thats all the SST is).

The SST for pressing them in is like $30 and the tool for unpressing them is around $180

A shop shouldnt have torched them suckers, thats rediculous and probably was a factor in this 'incredibly rare' axle break.



Go with new bearings, retainers and axles.. replace all the seals

Not sure how to get the rest of that axle out.. you might be out a backing plate.

Id probably go Elvotas route and snag a rear axle (ofcourse it will come with the backing plate) from a yard cheap.

or this is a good time to do a full floater conversion or disc brakes =)