Blown rear diff: what should I do?

[MCavaco]

Hey Everyone,
Curious what everyone would do here… our third car, a 2006 TJ went in for service and while doing the rear diff, our corner shop found basically a soup sandwich. From the pictures I can’t believe it wasn’t driving exponentially worse.
I’m located in Rhode Island and curious if you guys, would do a whole axle swap, the diff, what….. I’m handy, but also work full-time, have a three-year-old and a pregnant wife. (LMK if anyone local wants to make a few bucks or has an axle!)

 

[dbbd1]

What gear ratio are you running now?

 

[hosejockey61]

Axle swap is the easiest and cheapest if you are remotely handy with tools.

Otherwise that needs a rebuild.

 

[BlueC]

I see chewed-up spider gears, easy and cheap enough to replace, but you guys are saying to swap the axle. What am I missing?

 

[hosejockey61]

I see chewed-up spider gears, easy and cheap enough to replace, but you guys are saying to swap the axle. What am I missing?

Take a closer look at the ring gear.

 

[Duck Doctor]

If you’re running stock tires with stock gearing then just have the rear axle rebuilt. If you have larger tires than stock have both axles regeared. Cost is about $1,100 per axle.

 

[P man]

I would just repair what you have. If you swap in a used axle you still run the risk of it having issues.

 

[The4bangertj]

Depends on the use. I see this as a perfect time to upgrade the whole axle to a 44 but if you don’t wheel it or need the upgrade it’s only spending more money. Finding a used 35 with the same gears is the cheapest and fastest way. Or just rebuild it the same gear you have or change the front gears too if you want to go deeper gears since this would be the time to do it.

 

[P man]

Depends on the use. I see this as a perfect time to upgrade the whole axle to a 44 but if you don’t wheel it or need the upgrade it’s only spending more money. Finding a used 35 with the same gears is the cheapest and fastest way. Or just rebuild it the same gear you have or change the front gears too if you want to go deeper gears since this would be the time to do it.

The problem with a 44 is they are expensive and harder to find.

 

[The4bangertj]

The problem with a 44 is they are expensive and harder to find.

That’s why I said “perfect time to upgrade the whole axle to a 44 but if you don’t wheel it or need the upgrade it’s only spending more money”. All depends on his use. Either way those gears are not usable.

 

[MCavaco]

The jeep is more of a family camp jeep and beach car, and I’m pretty baffled at how it happened in the first place… I’m leaning towards finding a replacement axle and having it in the home garage for a while