120k miles of street use was just too much

[K85 Octane]

2006 Dmax 4x4 3500
Road Queen
tows 5 days out of the year, maybe 7,000lb at most
stock power
~120k miles

 

[454Sub]

I sense vibration in your future. And not Marky Mark good vibrations either.

 

[K85 Octane]

that's right, axle tubes are straight
spun the housing getting out into traffic this morning

guy at the dealership said he's only seen this 2 times in 42 years
First question he asked was "man, what kind of power are you putting down!?"
Reply "it's stock"
"what about the BANKS system?"
"it hasn't worked in 3 years, its just on stock tune"
"Well, I can see this sort of thing happening with larger tires and higher power"
"It's stock tune, 35" shoe'd road queen, and it doesn't tow anything"



Thanks GM/ whoever makes the axle. I sure feel sorry for all those new diesel owners, what with all that extra torque they have over mine, must be doing this on a yearly basis.

 

[454Sub]

Strange things happen on the daily. My cousin had a 04 D-max with a tuner, intake, exhaust, injectors and so on and he beat the hell out of that thing and it never did that.

Im going to assume it probably trashed that joint, and maybe but doubtfully the pinion bearings. All I would think they/you would have to do is drag the housing back down to normal and plug weld it again, and maybe a full circle around the tubes or some tacks here and there. Hopefully a cheap and simple fix and hope you get out cheap.

I believe thats an AAM 11.5. And that thing is a beast. I have never heard or seen one of them do that in my time. I have recently replaced the centering pin on one where a friend in an alcohol caused yee haw moment hit a stump going around 55 or so and ripped the axle out from under the truck on the driverside. No damage to the axle, just had to straighten the u-bolts and viola, fixed.

 

[K85 Octane]

Well it just sucks is all. Very light duty, way overkill for what we use it for. But at one point did haul around a camper for vacation maybe 6 days out of the year. It's my father's truck. He's not a drag racer lol

The driveshaft "looks" straight but the yoke is trashed. The axle side yoke is fine. Drove around the corner and go an estimate from a DS shop (either new tube or just yoke). The dealer is going to want $$$$$ for a whole new one, while this one already has a newish support bearing. I'll know more later but since it just happened, I only have questions.

 

[1979jimmy350]

not surprised there, AAM has had issues on machining the hole into which the tube presses leading to this. When the Press fit is to loose it puts undo stress on the welds. Those plug welds are only designed to prevent rotation of the tube as they only fuse to the tube and not the pumpkin. When I was a intern at the plant that makes the 11.5 i saw a few axles with this issue

 

[blazerz]

i've had that happen twice to me over the year's.....first time at the track with my chevelle...i put it in reverse and gased it to get it back in position.....close enough i had to drive it home....both times never hurt anything....just repositioned it and welded the center section to the tubes....

 

[rampage]

The axle wrap from the lift blocks probably didn't help matters. When you were pulling out into traffic did you romp on it?

 

[ratlover]

I put 60k miles on an 03 and I ran high 11's with it. Drove it daily, pegged the 1800* pyro pretty much every time I drove it. Plowed snow. Street raced. I launched in 4x4 and 60'ed in the 1.6s Drag raced it a few times a month. Had an 06 dmax with over 500 rwhp that did about the same including truck pulling for 60k miles. No issues

IMO the axel in these trucks is stout.

 

[y5mgisi]

Must have been defective from the factory. Otherwise i think we would hear about it alot more.

 

[sweetk30]

just a bad day for you and the guy who made that axle is all it was.

i would never trust it again my self . it will leak oil from the joint more than it is already for the rest of its life even if you reset it and re plug welded it. the oil buildup around it already was a indicator of bad joint or plug weld job.

 

[K85 Octane]

$3500 for the dealership to take out the guts and put them into a new housing. I'm having the DS fixed for $220-400 instead of the dealer selling me a new one for $1000.

Made a couple calls. $1500 to have it fixed and welded around the tubes. Also have someone looking for another housing. But since my Dad and I just got into an argument over it about 20min ago, I'm just letting the dealer rape him. I don't care

 

[1979jimmy350]

$3500 for the dealership to take out the guts and put them into a new housing. I'm having the DS fixed for $220-400 instead of the dealer selling me a new one for $1000.

Made a couple calls. $1500 to have it fixed and welded around the tubes. Also have someone looking for another housing. But since my Dad and I just got into an argument over it about 20min ago, I'm just letting the dealer rape him. I don't care

I would not trust welding the tube to the housing, The housing is cast iron and the tubes are steel, they will not properly weld together. Find a axle at a junk yard, the earlier axles had better quality. The earlier ones were made in Mexico and the newer ones in the US. With production costs higher in the US they run the feed rate on the boring machine faster resulting in a less sound press fit

 

[y5mgisi]

Find a axle at a junk yard

Thats what i was thinking.

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Moral of the story... Weld yer tubes.

 

[76zimmer]

I would not trust welding the tube to the housing, The housing is cast iron and the tubes are steel, they will not properly weld together. Find a axle at a junk yard, the earlier axles had better quality. The earlier ones were made in Mexico and the newer ones in the US. With production costs higher in the US they run the feed rate on the boring machine faster resulting in a less sound press fit

Its been done many times....considerable debate about what method is proper...Here is what I did:

Today Pop and I worked on the axletubes.
We pulled the axle out of the frame, and got it on the bench..yep same hi-tech bench as used for welding
We burnt the paint off the tubes and center section to be welded, then preheated the center section to ~600* right at the gap between the two pieces. Then I welded with .030 wire and highest heat, and about 7 on the wire feed (1-10). The first pass went into the groove of the tube and center section.

The second pass I tried to tie the center section to the first pass....had the wire feed up to 8, and it was too much feed I think, so we went back to 7.

The last pass was to tie in the first pass with the tube more. Wire feed left at 7.

The other side I went first pass in the gap, 2nd pass on the tube, and 3rd pass on the center section. The results were a little better.

So we did one side at a time, until the temp was back down to 100*, and the tube and the center section were never more than 20* different. We hit them a couple times while cooling down with the torch to keep them from cooling to fast.
We checked the temps frequently with an IR gun.

The cleaned up finished results:

​

Acetylene torch for heatup, and a couple maintenance hits to help it cool a little slower than normal.​

​

 

[Keitha]

...the earlier axles had better quality. The earlier ones were made in Mexico and the newer ones in the US. With production costs higher in the US they run the feed rate on the boring machine faster resulting in a less sound press fit

This may be the only time I have heard someone touting Mexico quality over US quality.

 

[1979jimmy350]

This may be the only time I have heard someone touting Mexico quality over US quality.

Yea it is sort of weird to do so, It is happening more often now though, like the newer 5.3 blocks that are cast in Mexico are better then the US ones because they can still use older processes that are less friendly to the environment down there

 

[K85 Octane]

Is it possible to do this on my 14b while under the truck? Maybe even just a couple 2" beads 180* apart? Just for that extra strength. I've been thinking about this very thing for a couple years, a little more now that this has happened. Then replace the oil afterward (after I shave it anyway)

 

[y5mgisi]

Yes its possible. People that wheel hard spin 14bolt sections often when they dont weld the tubes.