Strange Axle Shaft Wear

[Tankpick]

I was changing my Rear Axle bearing and seals to hopefully help a vibration issue I have been having. The drive side rear tire is wearing much faster than all the other tires. When I removed the Axle shaft I noticed off center circular wear on the end of the shaft Does anyone know what this might indicate. I still have the vibration after replacing the bearings.

 

[gandrimp]

Bad tire, bent wheel, tire wheel out of balance, ujoint, and my all time favorite ( its happened to me twice) shocks.

 

[97RangerXLT]

in addition to the above, another possibility is that you might have a slightly bent axle (where the hub bolts to the wheel)

put the shaft back in the tube and make sure that it is supported by the bearings. spin it. does the face of the hub look like it is wobbling?

AJ

 

[Tankpick]

I Have Changed both axles and drums prior to changing the bearings, so I suppose I will get the tires road force balanced. And the tire does seem to have a vibration to it when I run the truck with just the left rear tire in the air. Thank you for the responses.

 

[pjtoledo]

that end of the axle doesn't do much.
while driving in a straight line its in contact with the cross pin, but it is not moving relative to the cross pin. there will be some in & out motion because of the play next to the C clip, but that won't cause any issues.
while going around a corner it may spin between 1 and 1/2 revolutions against the cross pin as the wheels travel different distances.
if spinning 1 wheel it will rotate against the cross pin.
as others stated, the problem is out by the wheel. check for out of round and wobble.
rotate the wheels, does the vibration go with the wheel?


Perry

 

[Hagan]

Don't bother balancing tires yet. What you need to do is rotate the tire/wheel you think is shaking. Move it to the front and see if the shake is up in the front or still in the same spot. If it is you need to look further.

Also you could swap drums left to right. I don't know what vibration you are feeling but it could be driveshaft vibration or something else. Hard to diagnose through the Internet.

Good luck!

 

[Tankpick]

I swapped the rear tires from left to right and put a new drum on the left side when I changed axles. I will swap them to upfront and see if i notice a difference I have also changed many other things attempting to fix the vibration including:
-All front end suspension components
-Different Rims/Tires
-New injectors
-New Spark plugs/wires
-New Ignition coil
-New Fuel pump/ pressure regulator
-New one piece drive shaft
-New upper/lower intake manifold gaskets
-New rear brakes (rotors and drums as well)
-Both rear axle shafts have been swapped
-New torque converter/flywheel
-New DPFE sensor/hoses
-New Camshaft sychronizer
-New trans mount and cross member bushings
plus bringing the truck into a shop 3 times and non of them could diagnose it

So I will swap the tires and lift it up and test the rear one side at a time again. Does anyone know if a bad differential carrier bearing would cause this?

 

[gandrimp]

Looks like you have done everything I suggested to look at except the shocks. I used bilstein.

I run a farm equipment repair shop. Vibration means different things to different people. To me, a diff carrier bearing would not vibrate, but if bad enough you could feel it, so you may call it a vibration. But if it was that bad, a simple fluid change would probably let you know you had problems.

 

[enjr44]

I was changing my Rear Axle bearing and seals .... When I removed the drive shaft i noticed off center circular wear on the end of the shaft ...........

I'd be more worried about the drive shaft. It has to be jumping around a lot to get a weird wear pattern like that. What was it rubbing on and what does that look like??

 

[Mazda]

+1 On the driveshaft. I would make sure it is balanced right.

 

[pjtoledo]

the picture is an axle shaft, I presume "drive shaft" is a typo.

Tankpick, care to clarify?

 

[Tankpick]

the picture is an axle shaft, I presume "drive shaft" is a typo.

Tankpick, care to clarify?

yes sorry I corrected my post it is an axle shaft. I forgot to list it but I have changed the shocks as well. I have also tried different combinations of tires and rims and the driveshaft was changed out with a one piece driveshaft i have taken back to get balanced just to make sure its not the problem

 

[bobbywalter]

the axle haft looks normal to me on the pin side.