Has anyone blown out their driveshaft center bearing on a 4x4 96 or other year 3500 extended cab? I have blown out one at 60000mi and now another one blew out at 81000mi. Is their anyone that makes a complete new heavy duty unit? And no I do not beat the crap out of the truck, but I have carried heavy loads last year.

 

The carrier bearing in my '96 looks great. It's got 107,000 miles on the truck and has done nothing but tow 3 car trailers. It might just be your irish luck... if you're irish.

 

There is definately something wrong when you are blowing that many midship (carrier) bearings. Are you sure that the driveline is in phase and the angle is not substantial? Any angle in a driveline will cause an elipse in the the driveline which is common. But, an out of phase driveline with an elipse will cause the elipse to happen at different times down the in the driveline. This not only causes short life of the U-Joints and midship bearings, but it can definately harm your rear end. Did you make sure you put any shims above the midship bearing back into place?

 

Truck is stock when it comes to ride hieght and suspension.<br>I had a garage install the first bearing at 60000. This guy is very good and my business has been using him for years. I will tell him what you wrote, maybe he will find the problem. My U joints are fine, still have the original ones. I'm sure he will check those anways. Thanks for the tip.

 

Found the problem as to why the bearing is falling apart.<br>Two years ago I had a new custom exhaust installed and the jerks removed a heat shield next to the center bearing. This was causing exsesive heat on the rubber parts of the unit and it was falling apart. I fabricated a new shield and installed it. Should be fine now.