My driveshaft broke :(

[usmc1217]

So earlier today as I was getting ready to drive across the bridge, I stopped at the toll booth and after I paid the attendant, I proceeded to accelerate onto the bridge. Immediately after I pressed the gas, I hear this extremely loud bang I lost all power. I coasted onto the shoulder and when I looked under the truck, my driveshaft was disconnected from the diff and dragging across the ground. Long story short, my pinion gear has completed sheered in half. How on earth is this even possible??
Any suggestions for what to do? Last year around May, I had my truck worked on at a shop where they replaced the pinion bearing because apparently is was stuck on the gear and they had to cut it off..
i called that same shop today and they refused to work on my truck, stating that it was 6 days passed the warranty period. The other half of the pinion gear is still stuck in the differential. Has this ever happened to anyone??
its a 2012 1500, 5.7 express with about 112K miles on it.

 

[Brandon-w]

Looks like the bearings went and pinion twisted. [emoji17] Sorry for ur loss bro.

 

[bryce88]

Wow... Any idea about the cost to repair it?

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[Brandon-w]

Looking at the damage around the seating surface of the seal it'll likely be an axle swap. [emoji58]

 

[Brandon-w]

It may be possible. To clean it up pics don't do any justice.

 

[Random_Walk]

Looking at the damage around the seating surface of the seal it'll likely be an axle swap. [emoji58]

Gotta agree here, but open it up to see what the guts look like. Odds are pretty good that when it snapped, the gear could have grenaded, meaning you may as well just bite the bullet and buy a replacement assembly (I'd hit up the junkyards first... except for Jeep CJ-series vehicles, those things normally last forever compared to the rest of the vehicle -any vehicle; perhaps you can get one for a decent price and swap it out yourself?)

 

[usmc1217]

Looking at the damage around the seating surface of the seal it'll likely be an axle swap. [emoji58]

any idea what would have caused the damage to the seating area?

 

[usmc1217]

Wow... Any idea about the cost to repair it?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

i called a couple shops and beginning price of a new pinion gear is about 1800$

 

[usmc1217]

Gotta agree here, but open it up to see what the guts look like. Odds are pretty good that when it snapped, the gear could have grenaded, meaning you may as well just bite the bullet and buy a replacement assembly (I'd hit up the junkyards first... except for Jeep CJ-series vehicles, those things normally last forever compared to the rest of the vehicle -any vehicle; perhaps you can get one for a decent price and swap it out yourself?)

does that explain why my rear wheels won't turn anymore? and yes, i disengaged the parking brake lol

 

[Brandon-w]

Haha yeah Id say that's alot of the reason they won't move. Probly cocked sideways and jammed up. $1800 you could likely get a low km junk yard unit for 6-800

 

[JB1]

i called a couple shops and beginning price of a new pinion gear is about 1800$

I would get an entire rear diff from a junkyard or CL and swap the entire assembly

 

[blackbetty14]

God D@MN! That’s crazy. They had to cut the bearing off? I wonder if they cut into the pinion slightly and created a fracture point.

Get a new assembly. Any rear that I’ve opened up once damaged it’s always easier and usually cheaper to replace the whole unit.

 

[G-Ride990]

6 days out of warranty and they won't help you out? Wow that sucks!

I would expect that your pinion had slid into the housing enough that it is causing the binding.

If you can do the work yourself it shouldn't be too expensive finding a new rear end and swapping it yourself. Major bummer though! Glad the rear end didn't lock up on you at high way speeds.

What rear end ratio did you have?

 

[hotrod45]

I don't see any discoloration around the pinion shaft bearing and to me, that suggests that something seized to the rear of the pinion shaft. The engine torque is likely what spun the forward end of the pinion out on the ground. Since the pinion shaft did not break right at the position of the bearing, that seems to rule out the idea that the shaft was damaged when the old bearing was cut off.

 

[Big Blue Hemi]

I just read that there is a new open recall for certain year Rams.

 

[hotrod45]

OP: is there by any chance a metal strip as you leave the toll area, such as one of those steel expansion joints? A spinning wheel that suddenly catches traction can put an awful strain on parts. Years ago, people used to snap axles that way, although it was usually in a passenger car.

 

[buddy guy]

I just read that there is a new open recall for certain year Rams.

if that's the one that just came out yesterday it's only (at this point) for 2018s built between a per of march and april of that year.

 

[usmc1217]

OP: is there by any chance a metal strip as you leave the toll area, such as one of those steel expansion joints? A spinning wheel that suddenly catches traction can put an awful strain on parts. Years ago, people used to snap axles that way, although it was usually in a passenger car.

Yes! As soon as I hit the metal strip , about .2 seconds later I heard the gear snap

 

[usmc1217]

6 days out of warranty and they won't help you out? Wow that sucks!

I would expect that your pinion had slid into the housing enough that it is causing the binding.

If you can do the work yourself it shouldn't be too expensive finding a new rear end and swapping it yourself. Major bummer though! Glad the rear end didn't lock up on you at high way speeds.

What rear end ratio did you have?

3.55

 

[hotrod45]

Yes! As soon as I hit the metal strip , about .2 seconds later I heard the gear snap

That seems to be consistent with a spinning wheel catching traction suddenly. Steel expansion joints are slippery to say the least and if located that close to where traffic starts moving, they are highly polished. Since all the parts in that rear end have been subjected to the same stresses, there's no way of telling which part is now the weakest. If you change the axle and everything with it, I believe you'll have a lot more confidence in what is there.