I have a 2006 Chevy Silverado 2500HD 4x4. The truck has 38000 miles onit and has NOT been off road. This truck is kept in a garage andI babythis truck. I have not hit anything with this truck. Just has a lot of miles for an 06' but in Alaska you drive everywhere.... I live 1 mile down a dirt road that is bumpy but not bad. Today while driving to work the shock attach bracket that is welded onto the axle housing broke causing my brake line to rupture and loss ofbraking power. I had the truck towed to chevy dealer and he said he had seen this once before but the other truck had to have the whole axle housing replaced. Is there a replacement bracket that can be welded in place? A new housing is 1500.00 dollars. A little much if for a part that can be fabricated and welded on. I took a close look at the bracket and one side was rusted and the other side was evident of fresh break. Have any on this forum heard of this happening. Do any of you have contact numbers directly to chevy to talk to their engineers. I work with metal in the Air Force and I think this was a factory defective part.

Dusty

 

sounds like you had hair stress fracture in it and then it broke. if you know metals, you know what it looks like.
is it still under warranty? i'd grab manager, show him the bracket, and tell him that you are next to taking it to metallurgic lab for evaluation, and then go into small claims court to have your money back because of the screwed up part. might work.

 

come to think about it, you have 2 more options:
1. get axle from salvage yard
2. remove axle, find a good welder, and weld it on, just keep the axle cold as much as possible - wet rags, rags packed with ice. there should be no lubricant in the axle shaft anyway to catch on fire.