Hey all, I’m stuck on the side of the road here waiting for a rescue but I could use some help figuring out what the hell just happened. I was driving down the back roads headed home when out of nowhere my truck started shaking pretty bad. It felt like it was coming from the front passenger side, so I pulled over and went to check it out but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Tried limping the truck a few more miles to see if I could make it home but the shaking kept getting worse so I went to pull off onto a side road and when I turned my wheels to the right to pull off, something popped and as I kept rolling it felt like the whole front passenger wheel was about to come off the truck. I got under it and looked again and it looks like something exploded and I’m now leaking what I assume is differential oil all over my axle. Anybody have a clue what might’ve just broken? For reference the truck is a 1992 W150.

 

Blew the axle seal at any rate, looking at the axle itself though, the inner axle looks like it is laying on the bottom of the tube.... That's not right....

 

Should be able to pull the hub slug/puck and let that wheel free-wheel.... Drive home in 2wd.

 

The universal joint on that shaft looks like it grenaded itself. That would let the end of the shaft flop around. When I pulled my axles, one had no grease, just powdered rust in the joint. Hopefully the inner end of the shaft didn't damage your gears in the front end.

 

You need to check the u joint ball joints and hub bearing(most likely the u joint). That shaft is really low in the tube, It should be in the center. If the one side went the other is not far behind so replace all the bad parts on both sides. Use only Spicer u joints(spicer life SPL series) that is if don't want to replace them again in the near future.

 

Good point on the other side being not far behind. There could be carrier/spider damage too.... Since that passenger shaft is always spinning the differential in 2wd.

I buy cheaper ujoints and grease them regularly. To each their own.

 

Shouldn't the passenger shaft be two piece? Or is that not a disconnecting axle? Passenger side drop???

 

Based on the picture, it is the short side axle; passenger side drop.

 

what’s the reason for specifically the spicer u joints? And is it important to get them for the driveshaft u joints as well?

Also, follow up for anyone following this upsetting storyline: the vibrations were caused by one of the driveshaft u joints grenading itself. I found this out when I went to move my truck onto a trailer and immediately upon putting the truck into reverse, the driveshaft plopped out of the tail shaft of the trans. A day later and a few trips to the parts store because I got the wrong size u joint on my first try, the truck drove itself onto the trailer and is finally back home. For those who may need to know in the future, the u joint connecting the driveshaft to the trans is 2&1/8th’, the joint connecting the shaft to the rear end is 2&5/8th’. While we were under the truck fixing it, I noticed that on top of my axle seal blowing and leaking fluid, the seal on my rear end(pinion seal I think?) also blew and is leaking fluid. Not sure if I can really drive it until I fix those issues, but I also have no idea how to fix them lmao. If anyone has any tips or suggestions to help me along my way, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Back when i first got my truck i replaced some worn parts. This was 20+ years ago at 60K. The front axle u joints were on the list. The local parts place gave me Precision u joint and they where installed and greased. Fast forward about a year the right side joint was shot. No rubber boot on at least one of the caps and rust and no rollers left in one of them. I then did some research to find good quality joints. I settled on the Spicer life series because they have a 3 lip seal to keep the grease in and water/dirt out. My truck now has 240 K with the same u joints in it with no issues. The axle u joints move more than the drive shaft joints so poor quality joints would probably be ok for the drive shaft. But i want to do the job once and not have to do it again because of crap parts. You can look threw some of the other posts on the the axle joints and find others suggest them also. Judging from the amount of issues with your truck i think you should be more vigilant about MAINTENANCE! These issues didn't happen over night and could have been noticed early on before it became an issue. Inspect the yoke/pinion on the rear for any slop, If you don't have any you can get a replacement seal and take it someplace for them to replace.