Well, seems like I am the first here to do this. Feel like an idiot but need advice on what to do next.

Background: I have 1998 limited with the locker, seals blew and the bearings were shot in the rear axle so I took it out for a rebuild. My truck has 430k miles on it and has lived in Chicago its entire life.

The rust on the axle housing was BAD, so I was gonna take it to get blasted. But when I had the axle housing completely out and went to remove the diff, it would NOT budge. I had it upside down, banging on it with a rubber mallet, trying to just get between it with a thin chisel, WD-40, wire brush, nothing would work. Then I saw a member place the bottle jack right between the housing and the pinion flange to just get it open... didn’t like the idea but was desperate, it barely cracked. Still, after that it took another hour and half to separate it.

The face where the housing and diff connect rusted together, literally.

The longer e-locker studs rusted to the diff and wouldn't come out until after it was out I grabbed a punched and hit it hard.

And in the process of separating the two, I bent the flange/face where the axle housing and rear diff connect.





I noticed this right AFTER I got it blasted and my @eimkeith ULR welded on. I already got a lot of time and money into this, can it be fixed or just replaced? Nervous that if I try to have it bent back the diff could just be permanently crooked and costing me more money. I’m in college so I really need to pinch my pennies, any help appreciated!


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If that would've happen to me I would get a straight edge to checking straightness, and very carefully flatten that area with a piece of wood and a hammer.
I wouldn't hammer the metal directly with the hammer, it will leave dimples in the metal and might create sealing issues.
Test fit the 3rd member to make sure all the studs line up and use rtv to seal when done test fitting.
Maybe a member can chime in to leave better instructions for you as I really don't have any experience in that.

I would just do this, it doesn't even look that bad

in fact I've never done a repair or mod on my 4runner that required any tools besides a pipe wrench and a hammer, I even change my oil with a hammer

I would use a 1" or so brass punch 2lb+ hammer, straight edge for checking.

All excellent advice to save the housing. Very gently and carefully to get it back into shape.

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Just hammer it back, it should all button up once you torque everything on

Your not the only one. Except mine was hit and run. Replace the rear end. Dont risk.

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He bent the differential to axle housing flange not the whole axle assembly so replacement isn't necessary for him. That's apples to school bus kinda comparison.

To the OP, several good suggestions here. I would use a piece of wood, large hammer, and a straightedge and bend it back to flat. If possible have the axle housing somewhere warm. The colder metal is the more brittle and prone to cracking it is when manipulated with force.

Yes, bang and bend it back as straight as you can. Get a large, flat file or stone and work the high spots down. Then let the FIPG do the rest!

Put it in a press if possible.

I just separated the 3rd member on-vehicle and I could see it being even more difficult off vehicle without some way to fix the diff housing in place as you pry, why they put such a small bead of weld on the passenger lower side of the diff to pry on is beyond me, I almost added weld to it so I could pry more easily, and really the only good location to pry is where yours is bent, you did lock the diff before removal I hope as that would hang up in that location as well. Then I remember when I helped a buddy do this same job, we removed the locker and long bolts using 2 nuts jammed together, I'm sure this helps, put a ratchet strap around the crossmember with wood supporting the cross memeber and protecting the strap from sharp edges, other end of the strap on the pinion flange and started ratcheting and prying with only 2 nuts in place at the end of there threads, works like a charm to fight that gasket and rusted studs, the strap acts like an elastic, every mm you gain it keeps as you work back and forth prying. I live in Northen Canada so salt, brine/liquid calcium clouride 7 months a year, so can speak to the rust, a torch is a must to get those long studs and any short studs out, I replace any that required heat, as they have some green locktite on the replacements, not all relative but to be noted. You might wanna pull the baffles in that axle after blasting and clean the crap out of its insides, you'd be surprised where that sand ends up if the blaster gets to worked up!

Ahh that's not so bad, dont worry!

A little heat may help you bang it back too. Just don't overdo the heat.

You'll definitely want a straight edge to check your work, but the Toyota orange FIPG will be your hero in this love story. It'll seal that up no sweat.

Well....

It didn't work sadly):

Sorry I've been finishing up finals and finally have some free time to respond. I wanted to say thank you to everyone for the input! This was also what a friend who does fabrication work for performance cars advised, hammer and some heat.

SO, I went to work and tried to bend it back using the least amount of force as possible. Started off carefully, using a brash punch and a hammer. But sadly wouldn't budge, the flange was about 3/8's thick and had a far ways to go. So then I moved on to heat, my friend offered his help and I accepted... but he never got back to me so I tried it myself. Now I fabricate and fix all sorts of thing at my place of work, but never tried to bend an axle housing in to place. It was a machined surface and nothing felt right about laying on it with a hammer haha. I did as I was instructed, didn't get the metal cherry (hot except for once or twice), and just worked it back slowly.

And it worked out fine, was completely flat and the diff fit nice and snug. However, I noticed that the bolt hole where I was bending the flange back was significantly smaller than the rest of the holes. My theory is from all the heating it up, hammering it, cooling down as a result, and then heating it back up shrunk the hole. So I was pretty ticked, as the problems just seemed to be non-stop with this whole axle rebuild. So I saw 2 roads, drill the hole out and tap to the original size or just get a new axle. With me being at my wits end and nervous for any more problems, I just ended up getting a new axle from the junkyard with the diff. Mine had 436k miles on it, so it was time to say goodbye.

If I could do it again, I would have put a bolt in from the opposite and routinely check to make sure it could come out. Or, like someone else posted here, somehow put it in a press and press the flange back down. Hindsight is 20/20 and I learned a lot from this whole experience, so not a total loss. I'll share pic's tomorrow of the after math. Again, thank you everybody for the help. I still believe that was the best advice, however, my skills/experience were not up to par with the task.