Thanks guys - yeah I too am just so glad no one got hurt. Thank god I have a tax return coming.....

Ok and Zuk - thanks for the heads up! I will definitally look at the other side now. I am running 5:71 gears (Love your article on that BTW) and I was hoping it didn't trash those.....

 

Does this help at all?
(EDIT: This is it)
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...33rearaxle.pdf

 

Is that the quick release axle mod?! lol

Also, its not a Toyota dealership. Its a Hyundai dealership...as stated in her post lolol

Thats it, time for JamesD

 

Good thing nobody got hurt.
The axle was not installed properly. Sorry had to say it.

The sleeve that butts up against the inner bearing has a thick C clip. you didnt get this clip far enuff down into the groove.

the full meal deal comes unglued when this isnt done right. Drum, axle and wheel. So your axle didnt snap, but I imagine all that spline damage is from its journey on the way out, and the road.

I am glad you are ok.

 

Gremlins.

 

wow, glad that it didnt cause a roll or something of that sort,

 

Hmmm... I better let my friend who built the truck that I bought it from know becuase he is building another truck currently. He really is a great mechanic (A toyota tech) but he must have missed something. I am surprised that it lasted this long - I have had the truck for 1.5 years and have put about 10K miles on it...

Well lesson learned for me and I don't hold it against the guy who built it as he really did a great job on everything else. I guess it can be easy to miss something huh?

 

You ain't kidding Blake... It really could have been very bad. Again I contribute our safe "landing" to Troy's quick thinking and excellent driving skill....

Thank you all for your great suggestions and kind words.

 

Now you just gotta hope the Detroit splines don't look like the axle splines or its going to be a considerably more costly to repair. Chances are you will need some parts for your locker.

 

Similar story: circa 1991, 1976 Blazer with 6.2 diesel and all my personal belonings in side,on a tow bar being towed by 84 22r Toy 4x4with tools and spare transfer cas/tranny in bed. Moving home, 5 hr drive, running heater full blast to keep Toy from overheating...quite a site, really pounding the poor toy. 1 hr from home, spin on sand leaving truck stop..bang, no forward movement! Rear drive shaft spun freely, figured rear diff toasted so I lock hubs, put her in 4 Hi and rock on in "front wheel drive. Blasting down hill at 70+ to get over the top etc, still runn the heater as an Aux cooling system.
OK, I am 2 mils from home, winding secondary road, BANG, CRUNCH, BOING, SMASH...
Toys left rear wheel with a stub of axle and brake drum attached bounce of the front of the Blazer and rolls by a guy raking his yard! I pull off to a literal grinding stop on the backing plat with axle goo and brake shoes flying off.
Axle sheared right off inboard of the c clip groove, looks like scarf marks from a bearing job done long ago.
2 (TWO) tow trucks to get me the 2(TWO) miles home, rake guy was unimpresed.
I drove about 60 miles at speeds as fast as I could go, towing the Blazer with that wheel held on by the rust/interference fit! Talk about luck it didnt come of at 70 on the hiway!
Wish I had pictures! Lived to tell about it though! Mike

 

Are you talking about a domestic axle, such as a D44 axle? I know those type of setups use a C-clip on the inside of the axle. I was not aware of Toyota's using a C-clip on the inside of the axle. With Toyota having a 3rd member that drops out, how would you get the C-clip onto the inside of the axle?

Domestic innards of the diff:


Another image of the inner axle shaft on a domestic or C-clip type axle shaft:



Again, with the drop out 3rd, I don't see how you can place a C-clip on the inside of the axle, when the 3rd member is put in.

Unless, you have some special way.....

edit: There is an article that talks about the Toyota's having Pressed in bearings that hold it all together. The C-clip eliminator, uses pressed in bearings. Toyota, as far as I know, uses pressed in bearings to hold it all together. When the bearing fails, you loose the wheel.



With the tremendous side loads being placed on our rigs when wheeling, these bearings are prone to loosen up. When my wife was driving my rig home, I was following her and noted that the driver rear wheel was wobbling a bit. I pulled the shaft and drum, and noted that the bearing had some play in it. I decided right there, it was full-floater time. I have the FROR Full floater kit, and it is awesome! I don't worry about pressed in bearings failing anymore due to a heavy vehicle side loading the bearings. Plus, now my bearings are servicable when I want to service them.

 

Holy crap, that just seems like something you'd see on some comedy skit, with the wheel flying past the vehicle.

Just while we're on the same topic, is it possible for the front wheels to pop out like that? Or is that just a rear thing with the pressed in bearings?

 

The newer Toyotas, Tacos and 4Runners from 95.5 or 96 and up I believe have pressed on bearings on the front. However, I belive they have a captive nut that keeps it all in place. Should you break an axle, I don't think you can remove the shaft, becase the bolt (nut) on the end keeps it all in place. I seem to recall that some guy removed his broken shaft and didn't have a Manual Hub setup, and nearly lost the front wheel.

I dunno, somebody else needs to chime in on this one.

 

Wow, that's got to be a shock. The sales guys at the car lot must have thought it was their lucky day, someone finally drove one till the wheels fell off right in front of us, lol.

So what's involved with repairing it? Or are you going to a full floater?

 

Just my opinion, but I think at this point, giving your tendancies to push the limits of Tippy, you would be better off going to a Full Floater. Brian at FROR can hook you up with the parts you need to make Tippy into a stronger rig. You may be able to using the existing axle tube, and slap Brian's Full Floater kit on. In the long run, you will definitly be ahead of the game.

 

Wow Molly....Glad you guys are ok.

Kinda reminds me of that video in the off topic section of that Regal on 30's going down the dragstrip!!

 

Beat me to it ZUK! Had it happen to me (in Mexico of all places). Wasn't an axle issue but a wheel bearing.

 

from the pic below...I don't see the bearing on there. If what I said was correct then the bearing should still be behind the backing plate.

 

All my Dodges are full floating & I swore I would always use them when possible; I didn't know about the lack of a C-clip in these Toyota's....sounds like an engineer over thought the problem.

I guess I need to bookmark FROR because I can't deal with problems that could have been avoided ahead of time.....I just start flinging cuss words & tools until I calm down enough to think of a solution.

That's why I visit forums like these when I get something I have no experience with; it saves a lot of headaches in the long run. I would have gone nuclear on my 4 runner if I had that happen to me before reading about it here.

Sorry about your luck by the way, glad no one was injured. Also; it might not be the previous owners fault, sometimes things just break.

 

maybe the 4 bolts that attach the bearing to the houseing failed.......maybe..don't know.

edit: either way, I'm real interested to see and hear what the real failure was. Good lesson for us.