You could get a 2wd tranny and drive shaft and put it in your truck. I was taking a shortcut and once drove on a unit bearing without the axle shaft installed... took only a few thousand feet to ruin the unit bearing... it literally came apart.

 

Must have already been compromised.

 

Do not drive a 4WD without the front axles in. The axles hold the front hubs together. You will cause major damage if you're lucky, otherwise they could come apart while driving and cause an accident. They may look like the same type of hub/bearing as a 2WD, but they are different. I'm an ASE certified Master Technician, so I think I know what I'm talking about. So do not part out your front running gear unless you're gonna part out the whole vehicle.

If you're insistant about removing the axles, atleast take the outer cv joints apart and keep the axle splines. Then you can keep them bolted into the hubs and not cause damage.

 

If there were multiple pieces to the inside, that would be entirely different. That is not to say that something has not changed from the stock 2000 Bravada bearing I cut apart 3 years ago to now... What I saw in that bearing, it is nothing but a double row angular contact bearing inside there with the hub on the bearing I cut apart being solid from inside where the CV axle mates up to outside where the axle nut goes. It can handle axial thrust from either direction along with radial load. If they have gone to a two piece inner race to the set of angular contact bearings where the preload is set by torquing down the axle nut, then that is entirely different and it will wear out very fast without the proper preload.

My recommendation is based on my actual experience with the cut away of the wheel bearing I performed myself, but does not account for any changes to the bearings design. If something has changed, by all means either try to use a 2wd bearing assembly or leave the CV stub in the bearing. Leaving the stub in the bearing is fairly easy to do after all.