I've got some pictures of the damage.





It's kind of hard to see but you can see the new metal where the welds broke.

 

Blazerchick, you find out what caused it yet? How long has this rear end been running before it broke?

 

Since around March 27th. But it was out of an 87 Diesel Blazer.

My neighbor said that the welding was not factory so evidently what happened had happened before. So I'm gonna go back to the guy I bought them from and raise some hell.

And now that I'm looking at the old pictures of my old rearend that I blew out it doesn't have visible welding...

 

Thats probably because your old rear end was a stock piece. Theres a reason people dont weld rearends together like that. Its only as strong as the weakest part of the weld. I still dont see why it lasted this long before breaking unless its just due to builtup roadstress.

 

Yeah that makes sense. Which is why I'm gonna raise some hell with the guy I bought it from. It should have never been sold to me like that.

 

Wow...! You twisted the tubes!! Damn. Someone must have messed that thing up before for that to happen to you. Damn shame!

To weld up tubes to cast cases, you have to preheat and you have to use the proper filler metal for the materials involved. Looks like someone did not do the proper prep and/or used the improper materials for the job.

It can be done and is routinely done to strengthen the connection between the tubes and the center section, but it has to be done correctly for it to help anything.

It should not be done if the center section has spun already without a bunch of rework, typically requiring new axle tubes.

 

Well I guess I'll be taking it somewhere to get welded back... after we somehow get that pumpkin back where its supposed to be. Luckily since there's a Mud Bog right up the road so this happens a lot to other people, so there should be someone that knows what to do.

 

You should really consider replacing those axle tubes.

 

I'm gonna do what my neighbor did when he lifted his Jeep/Bronco. Cut the Spring Perches and just rotate the whole axle and then weld everything back. I've tried getting that pumpkin back where it was, but it's just not budging.

EDIT: Here's another pic of the carnage

 

You will definitely want to break the diff down to nothing but the center section and the axle tubes. Then remove the axle tubes and drill out the plug welds that are in the casing from the factory. It appears as though your axle tubes have worked out around a 1/4" as it is right now. That is not good. You will never get it setup properly again with it moved that far.

If you cannot do these things, it would be best to junk that rear end and get one that has not been damaged to that extent before.