Im traveling and now stuck in a hotel while my rear end is royal screwed. I have 227k on the odometer and on my way back to arizona from florida my rear end started making a rubbing sound nt he freeway. I pulled over and found a little fluid leaking from the back and i have never leaked before so i check the fluid level and it was full. anyway long story short i drove it slowly aorund the parking lot of the truck stop and after about 50 ft it locked up and my shaft came off. The pinon nut came off and that's what caused my shaft to fall. I'm now stuck in lafayette, LA trying to get it fixed. can anyone recommend any ideas.

I was toying with the idea of getting a junkyard pull and had a 10 bolt lined up but he pulled the cover and a tooth was missing... are there any other rear ends that are plug n play. does the 12 bolt go right up? please if anyone can recommend a shop near me that WON'T rip me off or any other ideas it would be appreciated. i'm stranded :-( HELP! are there any other vehicles that share the same rear end? I have the 5.9L

 

Did you have any idea how this would sound as you were writing it?

 

Is there any reason why the yoke, pinion nut, and drive shaft can't just be put back on so that you can deal with this when you get home?

 

Best laugh I've had in a while Alloro.

ABout your royally screwed rear end, I'm not 100% sure but I think any rear end must come from a Van because of the distance between the leaf spring mounts and the axle flange are different on trucks, but am not sure.

I replaced my 8 3/8(10 bolt) with a 9.25(12 bolt) a little over a year ago. It was a junkyard axle that had to be straightened and have all new bearings installed anyway. The gears were still good though.
So If I had to completely rebuild my 8 3/8 ( r&p very worn and spider gears, axle shafts pitted) it would have cost the same as buying and a junkyard axle and pouring 900$ into that.

About 1600$

The prices I found on JY axles in S California ranged from $200 to $650

I then had some issues with needing a special adapter/ conversion U joint to fit my driveshaft.

Overall the whole experience of dealing with junkyards was like a five fingered prostate exam.

I wish you luck.

Oh, you can use any year axle from the B van years, 1971 to 2003 so don't limit yourself to your specific model year when searching junkyards, if that's the route you choose.

 

I'm guessing the nut came off from pressure/vibraiton. I put the nut back on and shaft to drive to the hotel. There is a lot more to my story that i left out but there is no way i can drive home i have 1300 miles to go. I found a 12 bolt for 250 from a salvage yard.

Found a 12 bolt and the salvage guy pulled the cover on that one and it looked spankin new! so my dad went to napa and snagged the funny ujoint converter and hopefully tomorrow afternoon i'm cruising down the 10 home.

lol and btw i did realize what i typed but i didn't care. i feel like im getting *** raped right now with all these extra trip expenses.... i got raped by the tow truck driver to move my van 20 ft to a gastation $140. cops made me use him because i was blocking traffic and we couldn't push it... anyway thanks guys!