D35 c axle shaft

Tossed an axle shaft out of the driver side casing, is this the C-clip people talk about. It's not broke, it came out in one piece. After some wheel'in.
Damage I can see so far: All the bearings, backing plate, and it looks like some of the tips of the splines got a little mushed.
What should I look for inside the pumpkin?

On the end of the axle shaft ,it should have what looks like a button for lack of a better discription.If this is missing then look for it and the C-clip inside of the housing.
With those two pieces floating around inside the carrier it,s a wonder they havent ended up locked in a spider gear.
Now if you have a non-C-clip axle then is looks like the bearing failed and let the axle out.
Are you talking about a damaged brake backing plate ?
Wayne

According to your profile your XJ is a 1989. Your axle "should" not be a c-clip.

On the inner end of the shaft, is there a machined slot around the end where you could snap on a c-shaped washer? That's what the c-clips are -- they-re snap rings, but heavy-duty ones.

What you SHOULD have is a steel plate that fits on the outer end of your axle shaft and bolts through the brake backing plate to the axle tube end flange. This plate presses in against the outer axle bearing and should have prevented the axle from walking out. Which is why a previous poster suggested you may have a failed bearing retainer plate.

Thanks guys.
The axle is stamped '35 C'. C for clip?
I'll tear into it a little more from the right side and look.
On the spline side it is 'hollow' as if something was in there. Will check further.
From the brake side there's the flange, gets skinnier, then some kinda thing that I thought was part of a bearing, (in this area the axle looks like it got hot from the color) tapped on it a few times to see if it would move, did'nt budge, tthen axle shaft, then splines.
This mechanicle failure happened after some pretty hard four wheel'in (used winch 4x) (no gassing and bouncing, just technicle) came out at about 50mph on hardball.

kc7bur said:

Thanks guys.
The axle is stamped '35 C'. C for clip?

Click to expand...

"C" Stands for Custom.

kc7bur said:

I'll tear into it a little more from the right side and look.
On the spline side it is 'hollow' as if something was in there. Will check further.
From the brake side there's the flange, gets skinnier, then some kinda thing that I thought was part of a bearing, (in this area the axle looks like it got hot from the color) tapped on it a few times to see if it would move, did'nt budge, tthen axle shaft, then splines.
This mechanicle failure happened after some pretty hard four wheel'in (used winch 4x) (no gassing and bouncing, just technicle) came out at about 50mph on hardball.

Click to expand...

Sounds like the bearing fell appart enough for the axle to come out. You're probably looking at the inner race of the bearing. I bet it has been going bad for a while if that's the case.

They are right DAWG, the C in 35C stands for custom not clip. It hould have a 4 bolt plate that bolts to the axle housing between the brake backing plate and the axle bearing

Thats good news.
Eagle: there is no machined grove next to the splines.
So I'm looking to replace all the bearings & seals? Plus the backing plate due to the 3 wheeled landing performed at 50mph!?!
Thanks everyone