Axle help. (pic)

[AnthonyZ28]

Other day driving home my axle shaft completely came out. The bearing was in 1000 pieces, noticed the axle was completely dry with no fluid. Not sure where the fluid went, had the axle serviced a month ago and whether or not they refilled it, i dont know. That's besides the point now. Had to get it towed by the only wrecker available in the area at the time to a shop where they quoted to repair it. $2900 to have a rebuilt chrysler 8.25 put in, towing was only $75. Only reason I was considering having a shop put one in was because of time. Going to school right now for engineering, I dont have to time to do this myself. But if I can save a great deal of money and do the repair over the course of a couple months, count me in. I have friends with trailers that are willing to help me get it back home. There's no telling what damage is done to the current axle, unfortunately the locker I had is shot. Lets hear some suggestions. It's a 93 that had a dana 44 swapped in.

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[md21722]

Here in Colorado you can buy stock 3.55 8.25 axles on craigslist for $100 all day long. Dana 44 axles cost a couple of hundred and don't come up as often. Re-gearing and locker installs are more. The major advantage of the 44 is virtually unlimited aftermarket support for lockers. If you want a selectable locker in a 8.25 your only choice is ARB. I'm sure you can get enough parts for your 44 and find a Jeeper to rebuild it for far less than $2900. That is just an insane price.

 

[Hypoid]

You need to remove the cover and assess the damage, and that axle shaft is bent...

 

[AnthonyZ28]

They had the cover off when I went in today and all the gears are torn up. I'd like to stick with the 44. It's treated me well.

 

[DaKing]

Please don't spend $800 to fix / replace a rear axle. You can get another XJ for the price they want to charge you to fix that axle.

You can get an axle for ~$200 or less. Locker for $400. U-bolts. And replace that axle in about ~120 min, or less. And you don't need to be an engineer to o it.

$2900, they raping you. Ask them if they can supply some Vaseline as a courtesy.

 

[DansGreyMj]

Re: Re: Axle help. (pic)

I'd like to stick with the 44. It's treated me well.

Clearly it hasnt, lol. $2900 is way too much, I'm working on a custom rear 60 and I'm nowhere near that and that includes 5.13s and an air locker.

 

[ehall]

I see you were on the street--is it your DD? If so I would probably just grab an 8.25 from somewhere, run it in 2WD if needed, and work on a long-term rebuild in the background. School is more important. A late-model 8.25 is nearly as strong as your D44 so the only real issue is gear choice

 

[Anak]

A junkyard axle to just get rolling again while you rebuild your D44 is probably the best route to take.

$2,900 for a replacement 8.25 sounds like a complete rip-off. Perhaps if they were going to put in an ARB, disc brakes, truss and alloy shafts it would sound more reasonable, but that is not what I gathered.

 

[nbcaffeine]

Ox makes a locker for 8.25s, both 27 and 29 spline varieties, so that's another option if you want selectable but don't want oba for arb.

 

[Mr. Glock]

Wow. $2900 is insane. I bought and built an 8.8 with air lockers, truss, disc brakes, c-clip eliminators, chromo shafts, and 4.88s for less than that. In my area you can go to the pull a part yards and get an entire rear end for $100, thats what I did for the 8.8. If you just want back on the road it should be fairly cheap to aquire a used 8.25. Just be sure to remove the cover and have a look before you start to pull it.

 

[foxwar71]

The lack of any signs of oil anywhere should be the reason you're going back to the shop that "serviced" it and letting them foot the bill.

 

[AnthonyZ28]

I'm gonna start looking for a 44 and get my jeep out of that place. There's no way I'm paying $2900. I picked up this jeep for $3300. It's not my DD. The day that happened was an eventful day. I woke up and my DD that I take back and fourth to school had a flat and wouldn't hold air, but I had just ordered a set of tires for my car. So I was taking the tire in the jeep, then that happened. Now how the axle became dry, i'll probably never know. Im not pointing fingers, but my brother who drives it back and fourth to highschool (less than 2 miles there) told me he noticed some fluid leaking from the rear a couple weeks ago. I found that out a couple days ago. That leak might have been a result from the service it had done, I don't know. Im gonna look for and hopefully pickup an axle this week. And possibly get it on this weekend.

 

[AnthonyZ28]

Finding one is going to be fun.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

If you want to get it back on it's own weight. Consider spending a small amount of cash on a C8.25 to throw under it for now. The 29-spline is borderline the same strength and is bolt in.

 

[jwebb85]

Are you sure it was a Dana 44? The 44 doesn't have C-clips does it? How did the axle slide out.

 

[Demonoid369]

Are you sure it was a Dana 44? The 44 doesn't have C-clips does it? How did the axle slide out.

The 44 does not have C-clips but it's also not a full floating axle either. It's a semi float axle. the axles shafts are held in by a bearing plate at the end of the axle tubes. The bearings are pressed on to the axle shafts themselves abd what helps hold the shafts in. and by his description of the bearings being in pieces the shafts had nothing to hold it in so they slid out.

 

[Hypoid]

The 44 does not have C-clips but it's also not a full floating axle either. It's a semi float axle. the axles shafts are held in by a bearing plate at the end of the axle tubes. The bearings are pressed on to the axle shafts themselves abd what helps hold the shafts in. and by his description of the bearings being in pieces the shafts had nothing to hold it in so they slid out.

Same as the Ford 9" axle. When mine went out, the remaining race and retainer chewed their way through the bearing retainer plate. It was a hell of a thing to see in my mirror, during rush-hour traffic.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Also, consider a rear disc swap. In theory will help keep the axle in place.

 

[AnthonyZ28]

Was going for another d44 out of a older Cherokee, but all the ones in Texas are far away and pretty pricey. I'll opt with the 8.25. Now I've read some things about there not being many locking options for the 8.25, but I just did a search for lockers and there are quite a few results. I don't need one quite yet, I'm more worried about getting the right gears in there, but just thought I'd bring it up.

 

[Kittrell]

I see you were on the street--is it your DD? If so I would probably just grab an 8.25 from somewhere, run it in 2WD if needed, and work on a long-term rebuild in the background.

A junkyard axle to just get rolling again while you rebuild your D44 is probably the best route to take.

This is what I did when my rear 44 grenaded. Swapped in a D35 I picked up for $50. Drove around on that in 2WD for a year while I built another 44 that Hypoid helped me out with.