New Member, 95 SR

[LaOutbackTrail]

Alternately... to avoid any further damage....

Lift the vehicle from the rear diff to get both tires off the ground. Spin one wheel at a time. I you spin one wheel and the other wheel turns backwards, you should be fine. If you spin one wheel and the other stays stationary... well, then you can confirm there is infact an issue with the axle or diff.

To me, it sounds like a broken axle. As I've grenaded a couple of diffs and even moving the truck you could hear the broken pieces being crunched inside the housing.... not good. I'd imagine the pinion shaft might break similarly to an axle.

****EDIT****
Obviously you need to be on level ground and you will want to chock the front wheels and put vehicle in neutral with parking brake off.

 

[vgreen]

****EDIT****
Obviously you need to be on level ground and you will want to chock the front wheels and put vehicle in neutral with parking brake off.

Lol, thanks for watching out for me. I didnt think about the pinion shaft, that is good point. Thanks for reminding me about the FSM; I downloaded that last year, but completely forgot. I am going to dig into it tomorrow I think, I will tell you guys what I find! Thanks again.

 

[Monterorider]

I'd put my money on axle-shaft. If it was diff you'd hear all kinds of noises. Put transmission in park. Jack each side separately. If you can spin a wheel while other on the ground and prop shaft isn't sniping it's that axle shaft. Pay attention to prop shaft. Yes Monty axle is really tough but I've heard of this happening. You never know what kind of abuse happened before.
If you can lock a diff and get going. That's also a good indicator. I made it 200 miles home this way after I broke mine.

 

[scrubber3]

Another vote for locking the diff. Like said, if it's locked and moves, it's an axle shaft. If it doesn't move, likely the pinion shaft. It does seem odd that it broke with your wife driving it on the highway.

If after you check it by locking it, the truck remains stationary it is plausible that the pinion nut came loose. Don't know if it's ever been messed with do you? Of course you know to check it you have to remove the driveshaft from the flange and just look in there.

 

[vgreen]

All that guessed axle shaft, you were exactly right.


(sorry, pic uploaded landscape instead of portrait for some reason)

I have the FSM opened up, this is not looking like much fun. List of tools I don't have: axle puller, slide hammer, bearing install tool (mistubishi special tool apparently), possibly others. A few I can rent from the a local parts store and maybe I can improvise the bearing tool. I don't know. Has anyone else done this?

 

[vgreen]

So, I was kinda surprised to see the axle break where it did. I was trying to figure out why. My first guess was a wheel bearing went bad, and I couldn't hear it over the tires, even though they really aren't that loud. The outer bearings all looked fine as did the bearing surface. When I dug further, got the brake hardware separated from axle housing, I saw the axle bearing surface looked burnt, RIGHT where the axle broke, but the bearings themselves look ok. That seems weird.


You can kinda see the bearing surface, it has the dark-bluish tint to it.

So... I had noticed my axle housing had a wet spot half way between the pumpkin and the wheel the other day, but only got to look into it today. It seemed to have a bunch of crud built up on it, and as I tried to scrape it away, I found out that crud was actually metal. The housing has been welded...poorly.



So... my guess is that one of the previous owners somehow managed to crack the housing and had it welded back together. Continuing my speculation, I think the housing is bent ever so slightly, putting stress on the axle bearing, heating up the axle over and over and eventually causing it to fail.

Whatever the cause, it looks like I need an entire rear axle assembly to fix this. Honestly, that's a bit relieving. I know I can do that with the tools I have at my house, no bearings to mess with (although replacing them wouldn't be a bad idea). I am going call some junk yards tomorrow. I am also very very grateful this didn't happen when my wife was driving 70 mph on the freeway. It would have been catastrophic.

Thanks everyone for your help and insight. Looks like I might have a spare locker for sale here soon.

 

[off-roader]

Glad you figured out what was wrong! Check with car-part.com for used replacements from salvage yards. You'll want one from an 94-97SR. They have the 3.5l engines and larger r&p gears that are 4.6x:1 ratio.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

There is a 1994 SR in a junk yard in Grand Prairie, TX. Sending you a PM with the details.

 

[vgreen]

Thanks off-roader, that's the site I ended up using. And Thanks Outback for doing that legwork, that was really nice of you. Luckily I found one up here and didn't have to make that drive!

I spent all week looking and getting quotes and nobody had one nearby. Everybody wanted $650+ to ship me one. I ended up calling my mechanic friend in Little Rock, and he looked on carpart.com and found 10 miles away from me in 5 mins. I swear it wasn't there two days ago. I am picking it up tomorrow and hopefully getting it in this weekend.

Have any of you ever dealt with LKQ junkyards? My mechanic friend swears by them, apparently they have a good 30 day warranty and always take care of him. The customer service has been excellent so far. They are a national chain, possibly the largest.