A few months ago, I noticed a clunking sound coming from the rear of my 98. The sound would increase as I accelerated, then as I let off the accelerator, the sound would decrease. As time went on, the noise got louder. Like as if a card was stuck in between the spokes of a bicycle. I took off the inspection cover and this is what I found. How safe is it to continue to drive with the current condition of the pinion gear, and about how much would it cost to replace it. I would be doing the labor.

 

From those pictures it looks like you have water getting in there somehow because of all the foam. Unless you put something in there to clean it that did that.

But if it were me i wouldnt drive it so that you dont destroy everything else in there when metal breaks off and floats around.

I dont think they are horribly expensive, looking for the best price on google would be your best bet. Now is the time to put some kind of locker in there if you want one

 

Hello Aquarium Devil,

I just had mine go out on me too. Same noises as yours.
Clunking for as long as I can remember, than got louder.
I can't complain 195,000 miles on the original rear end.

Went to the salvage yard and found
a whole rear axle with 87,000 miles on it. $300 dollars delivered.
Replaced the whole rear axle.

No more clunking. Smooth as butter.

My friend and I did the work. It kind of seems like a 2 man job
for the complete swop.

I was just going to swop out the ring and pinion but opted for the complete
rear axle. It seemed a safer route. Too many little parts in there.
So far so good. I guess it really comes down to how much you can
trust the salvage yard with their descriptions and mileage they put on their parts.

Total cost was about 350 with a few cases of beer.

Mark

 

The damaged pinion could cause catastrophic failure at any time. I would do as Mark stated & try to locate a suitable replacement rear axle with lower mileage. Setting up a ring/pinion set is not very easy to do and requires specialized tooling that makes it very difficult to do properly if you haven't done it before.

If your truck is a 4wd, you will have to match the gearing with the replacement axle.

 

Thanks for the advice and replies. I am going to venture to the junk yards again soon and look for a complete rear end setup and just exchange mine. Since mine is a 98 4X4, what year range is compatable with my current setup?

 

If your truck has rear disk brakes then any axle on an 4x4 s10 blazer with disk brakes will work. (assuming yours is 4x4)

and i also believe any axle from a 4x4 s10 pick up will work as well. not 100% on that but pretty sure.

 

I will be taking a trip to the local salvage yards within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can find a low mileage rear end. I know of a place that charges $99 for a rear end swap, is that a fairly good deal, or would I be better off just replacing the pinion gear with my current rear end?