If a pinion or rear wheel bearing goes bad is it necessary to replace all the bearings in the rear axle? Can parts of a bearing destroy other bearings within the axle?

 

From the way you asked your questions, I'm guessing that the pinion bearing parts were loose in the differential, so I'll try to answer your question this way. Replacing the pinion bearing isn't as simple as pulling out the old, inserting the new and tightening the nut & you need the understanding and often some special tools to install the new bearing and do the gear-to-gear setup just right. That's quite a bit of work and if the old bearing had broken up, I would want to closely inspect the shaft bearings inside the pumpkin to make sure there was no damage there and to see how much wear was present - to do this usually requires a disassembly of the differential. It's a bit more work, but in my mind it would be a good insurance policy. I'd hate to have a need to take it apart again just because I didn't look. If the pinion isn't reinstalled correctly, you will be taking it apart again really soon. If you don't have the understanding of doing a diff setup, I'd recommend buying a used axle from a salvage yard and installing that - that's usually a LOT quicker & cheaper.

 

I just wanted to know if the metal shavings from one bearing can get into another. Didn't really ask how to do it.

 

pinion bearing blowing up , consider rear done for as it will get in the ring gear and probably damage the hell out of the rest of it...

if axle on outboard side by wheel goes good chance is clean out the tube on side it blew out check axle itself make sure it didn't get damaged @ rear diff and should be fine but wit this milage varies as how long you drive with it damaged.

done enough rear ends on dodges, aint fun, pinion bearing usually when it goes you will hear it , just like a FWD car when front bearing goes... but im yet to have a axle bearing so ...

 

Yes, they can. That doesn't mean they did, though. Unfortunately, the only way to be sure is to remove the carrier and the axles so you can inspect all the bearings. And at that point, you might as well replace them.

As for the ring and pinion, there's a pretty good chance they're fine, as long as you didn't run it very long with the bad pinion bearings. Just check them over carefully for signs of damage.