I am replacing the wheel bearings on an '86 4x2 axle. After getting one of the shafts out and inspecting it, I noticed a small ring of blue color between the dust seal and the wheel mounting flange. It seems too far away from the wheel bearing to be cause by that. What would cause that? Could the truck it came out of been overloaded enough to stress the axleshaft? I am mainly wondering if it is safe to re-use or if I should get another shaft.

 

Here are some pictures of it.

 

Clean all the grease off of it and see if it is still there, i might just be from the type of grease that was used, and is there any grooves of any kind? if not id say it should be fine

 

It'll be fine.

 

I agree Its fine. Use it.

 

Could be from the process of making the axles. Not from the wheel bearings so run it.

 

you tempered it; it's stronger now


okay not really, lol, I dunno...


should be fine, I wouldn't worry at all about it

 

Looks like heat treatment. I rebuilt a CV last week and it had sections that were blued like that to make certain surfaces harder and wear resistant.

 

It does kind of look like heat treatment. Thanks for all of the input. It sounds like it should be ok.