rear axle&crown gear

[gershum]

I recently stripped my axle that i replaced 2000 kms ago, now it appears that the crown gear is stripped, my question is; has any body welded the crown to the shaft ? I know of a big bear that had this done a few years back and is still running.

[Jake]

It's been done. It wrecks the diff seals. You really need to "tack" the axle in place with all but the left tube assembled, then move the cover and burn it in properly. Then disassembly becomes an issue. Also the metals are difficult to weld without weakening the axle a lot. But, they're both junk at this point so you're not out much. Actually you're ahead of the game (typically) by nursing the crown gear out some. It was junk when the first axle stripped. That's why the second one failed so early.

Also, you'll probably see mud and rust build up inside the tubes and in the splines. No good. The bearings all need to be tight, the left axle seal and the brake drum cover seal should be replaced, along with any other o-ring that's got scale or corrosion, along with carefully cleaning the o-ring grooves, and your axle housing will be sealed like new. The back axle can really be sealed effectively, but it's not perminant. But dirt and water intrusion are almost always the root cause of failed axle splines.

Ebay's often got just the crown gear at a reasonable price. It's dead wrong to change just that and not the pinion, but by the time you do a crown gear, a pinion, the bearings, the shims to "backlash" the whole thing, you might as well have a whole new differential. Throw in the axle and it get's ugly. Since these last forever except when mud gets in there, and half of forever is technically still forever, I'd consider cheaping out. In fact, I did cheap out. The gears don't mesh right, but they're not noisy and I havn't been able to break them yet. I've tried. No regrets thus far. I havn't seen an aftermarket rear axle yet.