Rear diff and axle shot at 236K

[Suburbinator]

Based on the price quotes you listed, sorry to say, they took you for a ride. Seals and bearings go bad, but the ring and pinion and axle itself? Do you mean the axle housing?
Unless there was catastrophic failure, accident damage or ring and pinion melt down, those parts should be decent even with normal wear and tear at that mileage.
Even still, putting money into an older vehicle that you know the history of, isn't all bad, unless you NEED something new. Buying used can be risky. And buying a new Burb isn't cheap. Three grand in repairs is about four monthly payments nowadays, haha, and should extend the life of the old Burb for years..

 

[ATL]

Why not find a complete used diffy with moderate mileage?? Costs you under a grand installed. Thats what i would do. Just my 5cents though. Hope you found a solution.

x2, i bet it can be do for less than $1000. call a junkyard and get a price. it will be a fairly simple install if you have the room to do it and a few tools. simply remove and replace, if youre not that comfortable with it, just takes lots of pictures as you take it all apart. refer to them if needed when putting it all back together

 

[Bennie]

I bought my 2000 with 220K and a bad transmission about 6 months ago (one owner, no hitch ever installed!). I ended up doing more than I planed on. Pan gasket, rear spider gears, and so on. The thing drove fine no noise from the rear diff but I cracked it open since the truck was new to me. I found chunks of spider gear on the magnet. Ring and pinion looked great. Oil pan gasket is a little bit of a pain. Have to drop the front diff. and pan alignment is critical.

Point is at that mileage things will be worn out. I can't say if the dealer is screwing you over or not without looking at it myself but you can expect it will need parts at some point. If the FIL is paying for it I wouln't worry about it. Fix what needs fixing and keep driving it. I plan on keeping mine for an awful long time. I won't be putting many miles on it but it's great to have around and I'll keep it in tip top shape so it's ready to go when I need it. I can tell you it won't have a high resale though because nobody wants to buy something with that many miles on it (except me)

 

[ATL]

my truck is at 180k, and the sounds it makes, wouldnt suprise me if the rear end grenaded this afternoon. but if it does, ill be in the junkyard looking for another one cheap