3500 Rear axle shaft too long?

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paramax55

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2006 3500 dually, diesel, 6-speed manual. It seems as if my left axle shaft is too long.

I replaced my left, rear oil seal today. When I took it apart, I saw that someone in the past had left the wheel bearing nut loose by a good full turn or so (which explained some issues). The job went as normal until I tried to bolt the axle back in. When it bottomed out, there was still a gap between the axle flange and the hub, where the gasket goes. The gap is .075". I decided to see what would happen if I snugged the bolts down and it bound up the rear end to where it didn't want to move. When I backed the bolts off, everything moved like normal again.

Here's the weird stuff amd my theory as to what happened... one of the axle bolts was different than the other 7. It was the same thread and all, but the head was different. Then, when I got the axle out, it had a number on it written in paint marker. This truck has a giant turbo, a big tune, and the motor has been replaced. I'm thinking someone did something stupid in the past, messed up an axle shaft, and got a used replacement from a Chevy or something and it's a little longer than the Dodge axle was. It looks like their idea to fix it was to back the nut off so they could bolt down the axle without binding it up. Then sell the truck.

Is all of this plausible? Is there a Dodge axle trick I don't know about?

If this axle really is too long, I have three options to fix it... 1) I can stick it in the lathe and cut .100" off the end of it (it's probably hardened and it doesn't have any signs of wear on the tip). 2) I can make a spacer plate of .100" where the gasket goes. Or 3) I could make a spacer to go behind the rear bearing and move the whole hub out (maybe the easiest).

Has anybody experienced something like this before? Any ideas?
 
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paramax55

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Update - I decided to build the spacer plate for the axle since it was the most un-doable option that also didn't require me to remove any parts (the axle bolts aren't tightened, so it doesn't count). When I was taking measurements, I found out that the binding is from the axle flange pressing against the rear axle housing - at the end of the threads. For whatever reason, the hub is sliding too far onto the axle and it exposes the end of the threads to the floating axle shaft.
 

Dodge 1500 4X4

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Wow reading this it looks like whoever replaced that axle shaft replaced it with the wrong one, you machining a spacer plate makes the most sense.no way you could've cut it, way to hard to machine, what a bone head move to back the nut off.
 

GTyankee

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found this ..
really not much

Axle Shafts 2003-2018 Ram 3500 11.5"​


2003-2018 Dodge Ram AAM 11.5" Rear Axles were made in three widths.
All single rear wheel Ram 3500 trucks use the same length axle shafts for both left and right sides for all years

This is a genuine AAM axle shaft for 2003-2016 Dodge Ram 3500 with the 11.5 rear differential and dual rear wheels. This axle is 30 spline and 40.1″ or 1019mm long. The original Dodge part number for this axle is 05086984AB.

There are two different axle shaft lengths for 2007-2018 Ram 3500 Dual Rear Wheel trucks depending upon if the axle is a narrow or wide track version.
 
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