Are these axles ok?

[dla]

These are axles from a 96 Explorer 8.8 inch, 31spline rear end. I'd like to get your opinion on whether I can use bearing savers and/or whether the splines are ok. What say ye?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Bearing surfaces are toast. I don't trust offset repair bearings as far as I can throw them. They usually end up leaking in pretty short order. Get new shafts.

 

[06RangerXLT]

thats weird, i have shafts outta a 92 and theres no wear marks.

 

[Snoranger]

You got yourself some scrap metal there.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I saw, but not in detail, the H.D. mech in the shop I work at use sleeves to repair the bearing surfaces. I think he used a thread type sealant manufactured by loctite to seal between the axle surface and the inside of the sleeve. Also he made a flat spot with a flap disc on the axle and used a hammer ONCE to conform the sleeve to the flat spot. He told me if you hammer more than once you have a chance of stretching the metal too much and if you use a grinding disc you can create "stress risers"(?) on the axle.

Richard

 

[scotts90ranger]

myself I would rather get junkyard shafts that will live longer and aren't a band-aid, the rear axle is semi important to drive-ability...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

^^^ tentatively agree. The shop mech was working on axles that were worth quite a bit. I don't know the OP circumstances and was giving another option.

Richard

 

[dla]

Bearing surfaces are toast. I don't trust offset repair bearings as far as I can throw them. They usually end up leaking in pretty short order. Get new shafts.

Understood. By the way, what do you think of the spline wear? I have no idea how to gauge this.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I wouldn't worry about the splines unless the splines on the spider gears look worse than that, not a huge deal, the bearing surface is more important, if the splines are about twice that bad then I'd start thinking of looking into it further

 

[4x4junkie]

Splines look fine, but those shafts are toast 'cause of the bearing wear (the top one looks to me like it was starved of oil for a bit, I bet it had to be making some noise already).

 

[dla]

Thank you to everyone for your insite - appreciate it.

A question about axle kits and bearings. Alloy USA 12188 is a complete kit and seems reasonably priced (~$300 - pair of axles, studs, bearing, seals) assuming decent quality bearings (seemed pretty hard to find axles for less than $125 each). About bearings: I've always used and will go out of my way for Timken. But I don't know about BCA, SKF, NSK, National for this application. Are the bearings a big deal here? Should I relax and just trust Alloy? Or should I piece together my own kit with Timken's?

Alloy USA Kit info

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Timken, SKF, NSK, National are all just fine. You just don't want some no name bearings.

Give em a call and ask what kind of bearings the kit comes with. With a bearing being submerged in oil it's pretty hard to mess em up unless they are starved for oil or really overloaded.

 

[legoms013]

Those are toast. They remind me of the ones I pulled out of my explorer 8.8 back in June that I was building:

I replaced both with "HD" replacement axles from Jeffs Bronco Boneyard:

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/c-1032

 

[dla]

Those are toast. They remind me of the ones I pulled out of my explorer 8.8 back in June that I was building:


I replaced both with "HD" replacement axles from Jeffs Bronco Boneyard:

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/c-1032

Those look like they were running axle saver bearings when you pulled them. Were they leaking? Just wondering.

 

[legoms013]

Those look like they were running axle saver bearings when you pulled them. Were they leaking? Just wondering.

No they weren't leaking, all was dry at that time.

They could have been though who knows, they probably sat in a junk yard for a few years and the elements has a way of washing off oil.