Strange ball bearing. Where is this from?

Had a tire explode on me going down the road yesterday. Thankfully skidded to a halt but the tire, wheel, and rotor are ruined. Working on replacing those and doing ball joints and tie rods while I'm down there. Anyway I was cleaning up last night and found Pic related on the ground where I was working, near the srivers front wheel. Covered in fresh grease at the time of finding it.
I'm thinking CV axle or Hub bearing but I can't find any holes in the boot and the hub bearing doesn't appear to be compromised. Any ideas where this is from?
And this is probably a silly question but can I live with out this? I'm leaving the army soon and need to drive this back home to VA

 

your CV axles still in once piece? CV axles have bearings in the larger bearing races.

 

Bearing not known.

WHAT brand of tire????

 

Muffler bearing ?

 

Yeah as far as I can tell. They spin fine, full movement. Nothing binding. Obviously haven't driven it yet. There's a small crack, Pic related, on the smaller end of the inner boot but not actually a hole straight through. Just got lower control arm off and the inner cv axle end is able to be pushed into and out of the center line of the truck with atleast an inch or two of play. Might be it. Dreading the answer lol

Just bought the truck. Previous owners had a set of Ling longs on
That's what I get for trusting cheap tires

 

First time I heard that one. Points for getting me to Google it

 

That looks to be from a CV axle if yours are still fine it could very well be from a past failure .

Your boot would need to be torn or loose enough for it to escape.

When a CV axle explodes pieces end up every place and can be missed during the repair.

 

It's cracked? Kind of looks like the ball of the ball joint. The wheel/CVs don't have anything that big.

PS: Get ready to see those boots rip now after flexing it. They look original.

 

Yeah ball joint might have been it, I'll dig them out of the trash and see if they match up