Its not the vacuum axle, so there is no disconnect. What i can not understand is why when i turn the axle shaft on the passenger side the yoke will turn freely, but when i turn the yoke the axle shaft will not turn. The shaft will turn alittle, but then stop, so its like something is not meeting up in the ring and pinon. On the old axle i had which was the same one, but was rusted all to crap, when you turn the yoke the shaft turned and vise versa.
Sorry about that, I didn't read the part about no disconnect.
If you hold the yoke, and turn one shaft, the other should turn in the opposite direction, unless the axle is locked.
That verifys that the shafts are connected and that the differentail does what it's supposed to do.
When you turn the yoke with both tires off the ground the results are unpredicable as to which shaft will turn, and which won't.
The reason for this is, once again, the differential.
When you looked inside, you saw 4 gears in a planetary setup. When you apply power to the yoke, the ring gear and housing spins.
If none of the gears turn (Traction or drag is equal on both axles), this transmits the power to both wheels.
If one axle has more (Traction or drag) on it than the other, the gears will turn and the "power" will get transmitted to the opposite side gear and turn that axle.
The reason differentials exist, is that when you turn a corner, the outter and inner wheel turn at different rates. This planetary system allows both wheels to turn and get a proportional amount of "power"
sent to each wheel.
