My rear end on my 97 ram 4x4 shattered a few pieces, one of which jammed under the gear and put a hole in the cast housing. I am having trouble finding a replacement for a decent price. It seems there are more 2wd axles available. Can I use a 2wd axle ? Do I need to replace the shafts? Are there other issues to trying it.

 

What size is are these axles? i dont really see a problem with swapping, just measure the spring pads and make sure they are the same. also, you would want to use the same size as what you had before and make sure it also has the same gear ratio.
And also check the pinion yoke to make sure it will bolt up to your driveshaft

 

i think you can use a 2wd provided its the same gear ratio as your original (and your front axle). your 4wd leaf springs might have one more spring, but other than that, i think they're identical.

measure every dimension of yours and check it against the junkyard one.

 

Wow, sounds identical to what happened to me 3 months ago, did you hear a grinding noise when you hit the gas for about a week before, and when it happened did your truck lock up and drop your driveshaft on the ground??? Im just curious because of how it happened to my truck Try and get an axel that came off a truck that was the same cab and bed setup as yours otherwise your e-brake cables wont match up, and when you get it, check the drum brakes on the axel, be careful with what you get and try and match everything you can with your specific truck. I ended up swapping with a single cab instead of a regular cab like mine and the ebrake cable was to short, so I ended up doing 3 more hours of work to swap out my ebrake cables with the ones on the new axle.

 

As far as how it happened. I heard no noise until I let off the gas about 3 miles into my commute to work. It whined real loud, then about 1 mile from my drive back home I let off the gas. It made a short whine, then sounded like someone shot a big gun. Wheels locked up(and still are) and axle fell to the ground.
The axle is a 3.55 ratio, 9.25". I had one guy at a junk yard tell me they are different. I think as long as I get a 3.55 ratio I should be fine. Thanks for the help.

 

Hey mine did the same thing locked up and threw the drive shaft. Through the pinion right through the bottom of the carrier. It sucked i found a used one exact fit 3.55 gear ratio out of a 99 4X4 from a junkyard this happened two years ago. Just remember if u go the used route check and replace the brakes if worn definitly change the seals and fluid too!