Crunchy Taco? - 1st gen on 35s BS

Looks like I also killed an axle seal while wheeling yesterday

 

That's crazy that it broke on the strong side of the axle and on nothing big. Glad to see you were able to get it out with a welded rod. I keep a slide hammer on hand for pulling motorcycle bearings, I should look into finding nuts to match it's thread in case something like this ever happens and I need to weld a nut.

 

I was pretty surprised by that as well, I expected the actual joints to be the weak points. It seems like the Advance Auto CV that I used (OTOH) was a poor casting quality to begin with, though, for it to be that brittle... especially when the end on the manual hub side is smaller

 

Life has been happening at an alarming rate so the rear axle has been torn down since before Christmas. I have put new inner and outer seals in it. I repacked the wheel bearings on one side and have the spindle on but haven't started putting it together beyond that.

I also bought a groover in hopes of making my two balding treps last through another season

 

My buddy Nick was nice enough to come over and help me take apart the rear. He also helped me install the block heater and mudflaps on my F350... he gets bored and likes to work for beer, I suppose

 

Crazy! The only cv I ever broke was in the same spot on the pax side, OEM CV. Great job getting it out, I had to take off the ADD tube and woke up the entire camp ground slamming it on a trailer a few dozen times to pop it out of there.

 

That must have been a real PITA

I would have likely done the same if I didn't break the truck on the last day of the trip. Instead I put it on the trailer and left it to deal with til I got home

 

It went quicker than i thought it would, only a couple of hours, mostly standing around and bs ing.
I had to drive it 8hrs home and still had 3 more days of wheeling. I did drive it off the trail and back to camp with a busted cv, dont recomend that LOL!!

 

Isn't it funny how things that seem like they would be a huge PITA end up being straightforward enough? Did you even drain the diff?

I suppose that's also dependent on time and skill but it was probably only and hour or so to pull the stub and reassemble everything in my driveway.

 

Crazy right? Meanwhile the stupid little stuff takes forever!

No drain as I was working on a tarp in a campsite. Just jacked the truck up higher than normal.

 

Why I wanna put a manual diff tube on. Only one thing to remove, and much easier than the 2 part ADD tube.

 

Eh, it was only a connector, vac hose and 5 bolts. I would figure out ways to break less cvs first IMO.

 

RCV already solved that issue, making the next week point the tube/stub IMO.

 

I would rather break an axle tube shaft than blow up a seat of gears

 

You bought the RCVs? I would have figured with the welder and stuff you would have just SAS that thing!!

I agree @Wulf , I'll replace CVs all day over gear sets! Plus one cv in 10yrs of wheeling with a crawler wasn't too bad of odds for me!

 

Most CV breaks are a treat to deal with compared to blowing up a front diff... Not to mention the cost if you lose the front locker with it

 

Oh god no, I’m just talking about strength and where the next weak spot is. While I agree that you don’t wanna blow gears, haven’t heard of many front diffs blowing that’s got a locker. Usually the spiders go but the locker helps that.

 

Ahh ok, I was going to say those cvs are like 75% the cost of an SAS LOL!!

 

Haha no, I’m going to keep pushing IFS for as long as I can before I get sick of it. There is only a handful of times my 3 link buddy on 35’s can make something I can’t, and he’s got a crawl box too.

 

I'm in the same boat... though going to a SFA could be nice in terms of strength and reliability.


I think that if I keep the truck long term I will get sick of changing CVs and end up with a Diamond front. It would be convenient to be able to carry a spare third that will fit the front or rear.