I'd say if your going to pull out a junkyard axle and slap it into a truck for road use with no more info than does the gear ratio match, your friend is asking for trouble. May as well play Russian Roulette with his family.
Well ... considering the current Rodeo has 150,000 miles on it, the CURRENT axle could have other problems that haven't been identified yet. Any of those things could happen to it.
Bottom line is ... we're changing out a used axle for a used axle. I'll be changing out all the brakes and such (duh!!) and replacing new parts as I need to, and of course I'll check it out as thoroughly as possible.
To me, it's kind of like buying a used car. You check it out as much as possible, but bottom line is you may find other problems later on.
Have you ever bought a used car, Curtis? If so, then it's ridiculous that you'd come out so hard core against buying used parts at a junkyard. A used car is just a collection of used parts that you don't know the history of.
I think a lot of people buy used cars. Even if they care about their families. Sometimes they even drive old cars with a lot of miles on them. We can't all drive brand new Volvo's every day -- and most of us don't want to. It doesn't mean we're willing to play Russian Roullette with our family's lives, it just means that most of us have to live in the real world, and since fixing the current axle isn't an option the only way to get this vehicle back on the road is to go used.
Sorry if this post was too harsh ... but it wasn't as harsh as yours.
