So I went to change my rear brakes on my 04 XLT, and as I was jacking up my truck I noticed a hairline crack in my rear axle near where the wheel plate is. Is this serious? Unsafe to drive? I called a junkyard and they had a rear end for $750. But no way in hell I'm going to spend that much plus work cost if it doesn't need to be done. Just let me know what you guys get from
this picture, the scratching is from me with a screw driver seeing how deep the crack was. Its deep. Truck is 2wd by the way, thanks guys.

 

I know I wouldn't feel comfortable with it especially if I did a lot of towing or hauling. maybe you could get it welded

 

Anyone who tells you that it is safe to drive is someone you should not listen to, BECAUSE you can't tell much from the picture. Any mechanic is going to say, "I can't guarantee", because without an x-ray no one can tell. Remember, you have two concerns - 1) will it fail while driving, and 2) who, besides myself, might I injure or kill?

 

Fix That please....

 

This is very true, I need to find out how much this job is going to cost me...I just replaced my plugs, front suspension, and tires. I'm not exactly flush at the moment. Although I can see now that its not safe to be driving my truck.

 

That looks very weldable. I sure wouldn't drive like that for long. It's not weeping gear lube, so it must not be all the way through, so that's good. If you weld it, I'd suggest you replace the bearings and seal on that wheel since the heat will likely not do them any good.

 

Simply welding it is only going to be a band-aid. The proper fix would be to:
Pull the axle and remove the brake assy.
Grind out the crack to about 1/2 the depth of the tube wall.
Weld it.
Grind it back to smooth/flush
Sleeve the axle from the flange to as far inboard as you can go without interfering with the U-bolts.
-- Construction and fitting of the sleeve is the crucial part of this job. You want to weld it all the way around the flange, but do NOT weld around the inboard end of the sleeve. The sleeve will obviously have to be split to go around the axle and should have about 3/8" gap on either side . It will also have to be internally beveled to fit over the existing flange weld. When welded, both halves of the sleeve and the axle tube will be joined in one pass. I do this kind of repair on a regular basis. Also as stated above, replace the bearing and seal after welding. If you pull the old bearing while the axle is still hot it'll come out pretty easy.

 

My money's on perryB's fix, but it still sounds like a bear of a job.. I think an axle tube swap sounds even worse.. I'd just buy a new axle since there not that hard to find..


These are popular consumer grade trucks, and if you shop around, you could probably turn this curse into a blessing with much better replacement axle for cheap.. I'm sure there's a used but really nice trutrac loaded axle out there with 3.73's for under $1000.... somewhere..

 

This is absolutely correct. I got wrapped up in HOW to fix, but I neglected to point out that it may not be worth the expense if you're paying for professional labor. In that case, buying a used axle assy. might be the better solution.