Welp, that's messed up.......snapped front axle

Had a rough day yesterday, tried to pull a buddy out of the sand and put too much pressure on the ole Yota.

Pretty sure this is part of the front diff housing that's broken off, but haven't been able to clarify with a good pic yet. Can't believe this thing snapped like this, didn't think it was under this much strain. Are these inherently weak????

 

Ouch! Sorry

 

Were you pulling in reverse?

 

How were you pulling? Sand and 4wd can cause damage if you don’t know what you’re doing.

 

Sorry dude. That is a bad day. We’re you in 4 high or 4 low? What kind of vehicle were you trying to recover?

 

Looks like it's the inner CV on the front axle, but hard to tell from the pic. If it is indeed the CV, it's a fairly easy swap.

 

It’s an “owie” for sure, but a simple enough fix, and well under a million dollars to fix. It’s your CV axle (well, inboard CV joint to be specific, but you’ll change the whole CV axle) and it comes out of the diff with a bit of convincing with a good prybar.

Since it’s the left side, you might want to consider replacing the needle bearing in the diff with the ECGS bushing while you’re in there. To prevent that vibration issue since you appear to be lifted.

 

Yup, looks like the CV.

 

hey all, i thought i was on high/hard ground. we were at a river, he was in a dodge 1500 4x4 and drove down on the super sandy beach after i told him i wouldn't. so he initially got stuck about 150 ft. from the hard pack to get up the river bed, we went to home depot and got supplies we thought could help. 2x4 to put 2ea on the rear tires to get grip while we tried to get out that were ratchet strapped to wheels and about 5 new tow straps as well as a chain.

bad part was the angle of incline that was my only option getting up the river bed and also found out it wasn't as hard packed as i thought. when i started to pull, truck started hopping and grabbing pretty hard then dug into more sand about 1 foot. next time it came down and grabbed hard in low 4, with all nannies off and tow haul..........that was all she wrote!!!!

 

nope, pulling forward

 

Shovel would've helped to dig around tires as well as deflating tires down. Probably could have got out unassisted with those techniques.

 

for sure the inner cv axle on driver's side, but i think the housing is what the case that cracked

 

that's true, didn't have a shovel

 

That hopping you described is what got ya...better to break a CV than to tear the guts out of the front differential. Its never fun when this happens but it does, the price we pay to play

 

When I had my 4Runner, I hung around in a few 4Runner forums. Many of those guys routinely broke front axles when they were 4 wheelin'. For them, it was so common that they carried spare axles with them and replaced them while they were still out on the trail.

 

Though not common for us to break 'em many of the LT Tundras I wheel with carry a spare axle. I've even heard of an entire steering rack being replaced on the trial.

 

Can you get a better picture or two?

 

I just had to replace my front CV. Take it in give a try to warranty if under warranty

 

will try and get some a lil later

 

i have an extended warranty on it that goes to 150k......supposedly specialized for lifted trucks so we'll see if that works.

 

very helpful, so looks like the cv axel assembly and that's it.......thanks

 

If it was cracked, diff fluid leaking could be an indicator.

 

Ouch, sorry man. Maybe your buddy will gift you a yankum rope for your troubles

 

Absolutely, the added cost of an OEM axle is worth it. I busted one on the trail in my 4Runner and it took an hour to swap it out with hand tools and a hi lift jack. So all in all, it's not a horrible fix.

 

I just did one on my GX470, which is the same setup/part # as a 4runner of the same year. I went with CVJ axles, which are remanufactured OEM axles with OEM boots. I tried to go middle of the road. OEM CV's aren't cheap.

Any experience with CVJ?

 

yep, finally got him out yesterday evening around 6:30 after about 4 more hours of digging out the sand, using atv ramps under front wheels and big winch to a tree!!!

 

Glad you got him out...how much beer did that take?...lol