ok. got back from my long trip last night. today i caught the ground frozen, and took the chance to use the bobcat to finish up som jobs while it aint muddy. i hooked about 11,000 pounds on the pintle hitch behind my truck, and headed to my next job. i turned a corner, on to the six lane, and i hear a loud bang, and it quit pulling while i was still in two lane, and cars coming since thier light turned green. the truck starts rolling backwards, so i motioned all the cars around me, and jump out and stuck a block behind the tire on my truck, and put out my cones.

my immediate though was u-joint. makes sense, right. nope. i couldnt figure out what my problem was until i went to the passenger side, and see oil all over the ground, and holes in my center cap on my wheel. i mean my center cap was torn all up, and through the holes, i spy an axle. i managed to make it to walmart parking lot, where it currently resides. i'm goint o load it up behind dads truck, and pull the bobcat home with my dump truck.

so, could an axle bearing be to blame? or maybe whole rear-end gone? or maybe somethig else?

the culpret? maybe grossing 28,000-35,000 pounds at times? or possibly my wreck, in which that side took a hit hard enough to blow a rear wheel seal? or maybe the loose axle u-bolts i got after a crappy body shop put the wrong u-bolts on it and made it run loose for a while? i cant figure out the cause, but need the fix. imma be pulling it apart shortly. any tips?

 

So if I understand your explanation the axle has started to come out of the hub? If thats the case then the bolts that hold the axle flange to the hub have broke. They may have been loose for a time then broke. You will be able to tell when you get it apart. if the holes are no longer round but oblonged then they were loose for a while before it broke. Please post pics when you tear it apart and we can help you with what parts are needed and what might have happened.

 

tj's repsonse is the most common problem i have ever heard of. hopefully you will get lucky and thats all it is. if the axle slid out then hope it didnt tear up the side gear in the carrier

 

hey guys just got it apart. ALL the bolts inthe circle are sheared off. i think anything else is broke? is that all that holds the axle in?

 

Those bolts are the only thing that hold the axle in. Is the flange still in tact? Are the holes still nice and round? If you can get all the bolts out make sure you replace them with ONLY grade 8 bolts!

 

for sure on the grade 8's. the flange and all looked intact well enough. i just hope nothing else is damaged. i had to drive it a little in 4x4 to get off the rd.

 

the splines look like new on the end of the axle. should i take the hub off and clen the brakes?

and is there any type of a seal that should be in that?

 

as long as you can push the axle shaft all the way back in you should be fine. odds are they cam a little loose. it doesnt take much to snap them off if they back off even a little bit. i would replace the other side as well

 

use rtv as a sealent. i use the 7.3 diesel silicone on everything since oil doesnt affect it or break it down.

 

I'll just throw my two cents in, I've worked on several trucks that had loose or broken axle bolts and they all had center caps (they all towed heavy also). After the repairs I talked the owners into not replacing the center caps so that they could easily check the axle bolts from time to time when hooking up the trailer and checking everything else (tire pressure, brakes, lights, axle bolts, hitch, etc.) No more problems since then. This is one reason that I don't run center caps, I have found loose bolts from time to time and a leaking seal before anything major happened. Again just my two cents.

Good luck on the repair and like c00n said, check the axle splines and carrier gears before installation, and I would probably replace the axle bearing and seal while it's out.

 

replace or check the other side? should i replace the rubber ring seal on the rear-end?

 

replace the bolts on the other side.

 

ok, thanks.

 

anything else??

 

torque spec?