awww crapp!!!!!!!!!!
 

today sucked,... i was so proud of myself for the great paint job i
did on my rear axle, that i decided to treat the old bucket of bolts to a chrome cover and change the 90 weight before starting in on the brakes. so i ran down to the local speed shop and got the stuff to do it with. i loosened the cover bolts and let the lube drain into a bucket. then i pulled the cover off. then i noticed the shavings in the bottom of the housing. ring gear looked good, not much wear at all. pinion teeth looked intact. now where did that metal come from? then i saw it, the pin that goes through the carrier has trashed the carrier. the hole around the pin has so much slack that there is a cresent shaped hole around the pin and the metal around the pin hole is mushroomed out about an eight of an inch. crap!!! some days you just can't win.
tomorrow has to be a better day. the law of averages says you can't have bad luck all your life, right?

Whatta bummer, better to have caught that now as opposed to the middle of nowhere.....should be an easy fix.

longbed71 has a point...........

I feel your pain !!! But isn't it better to find it now than after the pin comes out of the carrier, trashes the gear set, and then launches itself right out through the new chrome cover ??. Experience speaking here! "Stuff" like that does suck tho..best of luck getting a new carrier installed.

This might make you feel better.
I spent the weekend putting down a new wood floor in the kitchen.
Overnight, the plumbing leaked and soaked the new floor. It's shot.
After spending the day on my knees, my right knee swelled up. Went to the doc. Took X-rays. The bones are okay, but I have to have a MRI tomorrow to see how much damage has been done to the tendons and cartlidge.
I'll trade my rearend for yours. :)

I had a 12 bolt c-clip axle in my '69 Camaro where the rod you are talking about broke into three pieces when the retainer bolt broke and it jammed up. Locked up the rear end in the middle of an intersection. Luckily I could limp it home after backing up but the carrier was trashed.

Sucks but like the others said, it's better to find it now and not like me going 80 on the Freeway.

You are lucky to have found that problem when you did. The rearend in my 98 Ram 4X4, (trak-Loc), started to whine about a year ago. I changed fluids, and drove it making noise for about for about 2500 miles. I decided to pull the cover to see the damage, and found the driver side carrier berring trashed. It was so bad that there was no way of removing the chunk. I ended up having to find a used rear end for $900, and replace the whole works.

Go ahead and replace what needs to be done, but while your at it, spend the money for the gear ratio you want, then you will be done with it, and never have to be inside the rear end again.

I'm about ready to go through the rear end in my 71 GMC 3/4 ton, and put a new ring and pinion (4-11 ratio), and since I'm there, I will put a Detroit Locker in there too.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN.......i discovered the same problem with my convertible a couple of weeks ago......but the pin had slipped far enough out to smack the end of the pinion shaft. Man those rears are hard to find around here......I welded it up for now, I'll swap it out this winter.......