Driving without front axle shaft?

'04 Tacoma 4WD. Is it OK to drive with the front axle shaft removed?

Background: lower ball joint failure and I had it towed to a friends home. The axle shaft came out of the joint tulip on the differential side. It's covered in dust/sand.

I was planning on removing the shaft, quickly replacing the joint at my friends place and driving it home to inspect/fix axle shaft at my shop/home. Is the tulip joint anchored to the differential, or is it held in place with the axle? If I drive without the axle in, would the tulip joint fall out? How about loosing diff fluid?

Anyone done this before?

 

You can’t do that.


The shaft MUST be in the wheel bearing, and the tulip MUST be seated into the diff

 

Thank you! That's the info that I needed to know.