k5 12bolt inner bearings blew up - what can I savage?

[73kay]

Hey guys, bought a pair of 4.10 axles a year or so ago. Gears were stamped 1998 and the donor looked like they put some money into at some point.

Anyways fast forward, I modded my 85 k5 (350/208/700r4) driveshaft from a 10bolt to a 12bolt (little shorter) and was chasing down driveline noise for a while. Thought I fixed it and it came back, so tore into the rear axle and found all of this....


passenger side inner bearing got destroyed somehow with fine metal all over the place. It looks like the carrier is took some needle hits and is scarred up along with the shims.

Is there anything I can savage? What do you think caused the bearing cage to disintegrate?

[73kay]

more pix

[RustyPile]

Just a guess, going by the photos. It appears that the axle bearings and bearing area of the axles failed. The shavings found their way into the differential area. Carrier bearings then failed. It's difficult to determine which failure occurred first. It appears bearing races spun in their seats and now the differential carrier is damaged along with the main housing.. Can't tell from the pictures but the ring and pinion and accompanying bearings are probably damaged also. All of those pieces are now door stops.

[73kay]

Thanks for the input. After cleaning up everything the side of the carrier that blew up also ground into the carrier housing. Not sure what happened first but that’s how I think the bearing were able to come apart.

I’ll do some more research but is the axle housing still ok if the bearing race spun?

[RustyPile]

Originally Posted by 73kay

Thanks for the input. After cleaning up everything the side of the carrier that blew up also ground into the carrier housing. Not sure what happened first but that’s how I think the bearing were able to come apart.

I’ll do some more research but is the axle housing still ok if the bearing race spun?

When a bearing spins in an engine block, the block can be align honed along with other machining operations. This relocates the crankshaft a minute (a couple thousands) closer to the cam shaft but doesn't present any problems. Not so with axle housings. the carrier bearings and axle bearings are all on the same exact center line. The carrier bearing bores are machined to a precise diameter before the tubes are attached. Align boring would require the tubes to be removed. Relocating the carrier bores presents alignment problems with the axle bearings.. It's not an impossible task, but all this machining is labor intensive and terribly expensive.. Your best bet is another complete rearend of the proper gear ratio..