Ok I am at a complete loss and I need help. So a few weeks ago I switched out my rear end, only the axle studs on my axles were way too long, 3 inches. Yesterday after a 200 miles break in on my new rear end setup I drained the oil, and took out the axles to press out the axle studs and press in new studs. I did the passenger side (the longer axle) and put it back in no problems. Then I took out the driver side (shorter axle) and when I went to put it back in it wouldn't go in all the way, the bearing sticks out by about 5 mm. So tonight I thought mayber it was hitting something that had come loose in the differential. So I removed the differential and tried to put back in the axles and it still wouldn't go in all the way. I even swtiched sides and tried putting the axles in both sides, now neither axle will fit in the housing all the way even with the differential removed. I am at a complete loss. Did the bearings move, why is it not fitting now but did perfectly before, why does one axle not fit tonight even though it did last night? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Ok so not any help from anyone so far and I have any update that I hope will lead to an answer. So we fixed passenger side axle problem. Apparently its cold up here in Oregon and all we had to do was heat up the axle housing and it slid in like butter!

The problem however is still on the drivers side axle. We tried the same heat up the housing to make it expand and still nothing, we hear a distinct metal on metal impact and it won't move anymore. The guy I bought the setup from may have solved the problem. He said that since it is a traction lock differential there are 2 sets of spline on the drivers side that the axle connects with. He says that I am engaging the 1st set and hitting up against the 2nd set of splines. He says that what I need to do is keep turning the axle until the splines line up and it should go in.

That made perfect sense to me until I realized that the axle bearing is only sticking out about a 1/4 of an inch. It doesn't seem to make any sense to me the 2nd set of splines would only be a 1/4inch or so. Is he right, is that all I have to do? Please someone give me a little help!

 

that souns right to me but i am no expert on rear ends

 

Ok so I spent 2 hours on the rear end tonight trying what the guy told me. I kept turning the axle and trying to puch it in but nothing. I kept the axle in and turned it hoping to get the 2 sets of splines to line up, nothing. I removed the axle and tried to see if I could see the 2 sets of splines and if they would line up or not, I can't see anything. At this point it looks like I am going to have to pull off the differential again and see if they will line up by hand but before I do that I want to make sure that is the problem. Someone out there must have run into this problem before, or at least can confirm what the guy I bought the setup from said.

Are there 2 sets of splines on the drivers side of differential that must line up for the axle to go in all the way? If so the 2nd one must only be about a 1/4 inch because thats all my bearing is sticking out!

 

Are you absolutely CERTAIN the long axle goes on the passenger side?

 

absolutely at least in my setup, we did one axle at a time so there is no possible way we switched them.