'01 Dodge Ram Front axle stripped

[RedHeep]

Buddy was changing inner seals in his front diff and found the previous owner had stripped a carrier bearing bolt to the diff. It doesn't look like there's enough material for a helicoil but tapping it may not help. The hole is wallowed when it first goes in, starts to thread at the end, but won't hold torque.
Any ideas before we have to change the whole housing?

 

[Mr.OverKill]

over size the hole and tap for the proper heli coil for the repair, if it doesnt work you are only out $10 but if it works you save a bundle. talk to some one at an automotive machine shop, they can proabably point you in the right direction as far as size of heli coil.

HTH

 

[RedHeep]

Axle guy already said no to a helicoil, the hole is just too close to the bearing race. Our latest idea is to drill and tap a larger bolt size, without making the hole any bigger at the wallowed end. Any thoughts?

 

[Mr.OverKill]

Axle guy already said no to a helicoil, the hole is just too close to the bearing race. Our latest idea is to drill and tap a larger bolt size, without making the hole any bigger at the wallowed end. Any thoughts?

that is what you will be doing when you do the helicoil!! if you decide not to go with the helicoil, when you over size the hole use a fine thread for more grip surface, but it still might not work. other than that i would say you might need to go shoping for a new housing.

 

[RedHeep]

With a helicoil, we're obligated to a much bigger hole than tapping a size up. There has to be room to install the threads for the helicoil, I think that's going to eat up what little material is between the hole and the race. Tapping to a fine thread might be a good idea though. Thanks.