So I have been struggling with what I believe to be a bent rear axle shaft on the passenger side.
Reasons I believe this.
- My tire and wheel wobble heavily while driving
- I feel a vibration in my seat leading me to believe the vibration is in the rear end
- My wheel is straight, been through many rotations and it's always the rear passenger.
- It wobbles, its doesn't have camber like a bent axle housing would cause

Reasons why I wonder if it isn't bent
- The axle seal and bearing seem fine, no leaks or noise from the axle
- I haven't hit anything to my knowledge hard enough to bend an axle shaft, unless it happened under torque which I believe my 3rd gen doesn't have the power to do.

Any advice on this topic would be appreciated, my current plan of attack is to replace the shaft, bearing and seal on that side and cross my fingers and hope my wallet doesn't bite me.....

Could it be a bent wheel?

You should be able to find an axle shaft complete with drum and all for pretty cheap out of a wrecker. I buy all my bigger parts from wrecks now. I just can't justify the cost of putting new OEM parts on a 20 year old vehicle

Good idea, but he said he did tire rotations.
I had a bent wheel from the PO on my old Honda. It looked perfect but when installed on all locations except the rear PS it vibrated the car.

To the OP, check your Driveshaft, U-Joints & Double Cardan joint before pull the PS axle shaft. I can see this causing your vibration but not your wheel wobble. Check to make sure your wheel studs are in straight. If you have wheel spacers make sure they're flush & none of their studs are damaged.

At the pick-n-pull yards around here, the diffs are usually pulled (even if it wasn't a locker), but the axle shafts are usually still there, unbolted and pulled out a few inches.

Surely there is a way to test this with a run-out gauge before getting to the point of pulling an axle?

Just asking, I have no experience with this, but I would think if you can feel a problem, you should be able to measure it also.

Run out gauge on the axle flange while rotating it maybe??

Exactly, I could see a wrecker giving up an axle shaft for $50-100 and the replacement is pretty straightforward.

Good idea, you could even rig something up as simple as a magnetic dial gauge and a vice to secure the axle.

another vote for the drive shaft/yoke

Just jack up the affected side and rotate the wheel. Car in neutral, well chocked on the other wheels, obviously.

If you can't visually detect any wobble, there almost certainly isn't one large enough to worry about. If you do see a wobble, try another wheel on it. If it still wobbles, take it off, take off the drum, and see if you can see the hub wiggling. Thee's a faint chance that there is a piece of crud hanging up the drum and stopping it and the wheel from sitting square on the hub.

We got a Craigslist locker axle for my wife's '96. She swapped it on, and it was only a month or two later when I was in the passenger seat that I happened to see the RR wheel wobbling in the mirror. Despite it moving back and forth almost an inch at the tire, it really wasn't noticeable inside the car. I'm assuming that bent axleshaft had something to do with how the whole axle ended up as spare parts.

I just changed both rear shafts on my 85 truck, because they were bent.

its pretty easy to check. get it up on jack stands, remove all the brakes, get it down to the bare axle shaft.
then run it in gear. DO NOT TOUCH THE BRAKES.

use a straight edge, and carefully put it up against the flange, just outside the lug studs. you will be able to see the deflection if its there.

they bend at the flange(wheel mounting surface) so it typically wont damage bearings or seals.

Jack the rear of the vehicle and support with jack stands, chock the front wheels, start the car and put it in drive. If the wheel wobbles while turning take a peek underneath and look at where the drum spins inside the brake shoe backing plate, if you see wobble there you have a bent axle, if that is straight you have a bent wheel. If you don't have some kind of locker or limited slip and only one wheel turns it's no problem, just pull the park brake cable where it runs across the axle to stop the wheel you don't want to spin. And remember to turn off the car before putting it into the parking gear, just a sure way to not damage the parking pawl in the trans.

I already went through to replace them, they were all fine! No play or anything. Also that would not cause my tire to have a large wobble like it currently does.

Alex for what ever reason our 3rd gens have a tendency to bend rear axle shaft Flanges. It is a known problem for those of us who wheel hard stuff. That is the reason your bearings are not having a problem, it is only the flange that is bent. It mimics a bent wheel. Ive been driving on a bent flange for way to long smh I know. About to do a FROR full float conversion because of it. Im really tired of my truck doing the hula every time I drive it.

Replace the shaft and go out and have fun.

I'm planning on buying a whole rear axle assembly in a few weeks from a yard as I do a trip down the west coast. The one I am eyeing is from a rollover, I wonder if that could have caused the axle / flange to bend. I guess I'll try the techniques you guys describe here to look at it before buying, no reason it has to be on the car.

In my opinion, I wouldn't buy a housing from a rollover. You'd never be able to tell if the housing is bent just by looking at it (unless it's REALLY bent haha) Would be a shame to find that out after you've swapped it in.