You need to replace rear axle.

The wheel bearing went bad and the axle has now worn through the axle tube. To salvage the axle, the whole axle tube would need to be replaced which is no easy task. Replacing the rear axle is the cheapest and easiest option especially if you can replace it yourself. Just make sure to get one with the proper gear ratio to match your existing axle. A used axle from a junkyard will be the most affordable.

You should go buy a lottery ticket. You are DAMN lucky that the axle didn't snap from the heat stress or the misalignment at the differential caused by the lack of a wheel bearing (the chewed up remnants of which are still present). Suffice to say that the vehicle should not be driven until the rear axle has been replaced.

 

So I need the whole rear end??

Is it hard to get on/off??

The posts ive read about swapping rear ends just say disconnect everything. So why do I need to open the differential??

 

Yes, you need a complete rear axle assembly. To replace it, you will need to disconnect the driveshaft, brake line, parking brake cables, shocks, and remove the u-bolts that hold the rear axle to the leaf springs. Depending on how tight your clearances are between your leaf springs and the underside of the truck, you may also have to disconnect one end of each leaf spring to allow for the axle to be removed. If you have a rear sway bar, you will need to disconnect that as well.

Difficulty depends on how easy all of the components come apart. Rusted fasteners can make some things a real chore. Common hand tools should be all that is required if things work in your favor.

If all you needed to do was replace the backing plate, then the differential would need to be opened up in order to pull the cross-bolt, carrier pin, and c-clips which would then allow the removal of the axle shaft from the axle housing. The backing plate cannot be removed without removing the axle shaft first as the hole in the backing plate is much smaller than the wheel mounting flange on the axle shaft. You don't have that to worry about now though.


When sourcing a replacement rear axle assembly, be sure to get one that matches the gear ratio in your damaged rear axle. This is especially important if your truck is 4wd. Even if 2wd, the speedometer would be off if the gear ratio was different from what the truck came stock with and a tune would be needed to correct it.

 

ok got it thanks .... i really really appreciate it.

 

So where did the wheel bearing go? I see the seal...but nothing of the actual bearing. I would think there would be some remains of it?

 

It was likely ground to dust. From the looks of things, the bearing hasn't been doing it's job for quite some time.

At any rate, it doesn't matter where the rest of it is since the axle tube is wasted.

 

I was just curious as I thought there would be something left of the bearing.

Completely agree....the axle tube is shot. Have never seen anything happen like this before.....wow....is that guy ever lucky to not have crashed!

 

is there any thing special i have to do to get this separated??

its the top of the axel where it connects to (dont what the name of the part is)

i have the four bolts unscrewed this part doesnt seem to want to let go

 

Big pry bar. Try to hold onto the caps that the straps/bolts were holding in on the universal joint as they have small pins inside that are the bearing rollers to keep the u-joint happy. if you lose just one of them, the joint will eat itself and you'll be replacing it. Once you have it out, take some masking tape, duct tape, etc and wrap it around the end to hold the caps on the cross while you are working on the rest of it.

 

If you are going to replace the axle you may want to look into converting to disc while it is all apart. I have rear discs and they are so much easier to maintain then drums.