2005 Chevrolet Silverado Rear axle

The best way to find that out is to visit a salvage yard. They will look up the axle you have now in a "Hollander" interchange guide. It will list the housing with a code number. You look that number up in the back of the book and it will list all the applications and years that could have used the same part.

Often there are more than one part that was used on a certain model based on optional equipment, and possibly what was or was not available from the supplier. That means that just because a different truck model is listed from a different year, you still have to check to see if the part is the same as the one you're replacing.

Also, even though you will find the same axle on another truck, remember there's a lot of different gear ratios that are available. You have to find an axle with the same ratio as you have now because it has to match the front axle gear ratio.

Don't know of any online sites. I checked the Hollander web site, and as expected, their products are REAL expensive. You have to buy a very large book or a CD. Some books cost over $600.00.

I use the Rock Auto web site a lot for reference but there is a clinker to this. You have to look up the part numbers for parts on your truck, then you have to have a second, specific truck in mind and look up the parts for that one, then see if they're the same. This works if you own a parts truck or if you found one in a salvage yard. It is not practical to look up every model and year to see which ones might have the same axle because it would take days or weeks.

I was surprised to find complete axle assemblies listed. If you look up your truck, then select "Drivetrain", you can see the list of things you have to look at to find a matching axle.

To add to the confusion, Spicer and Dana are two manufacturers of axles that supply them to the truck manufacturers, and there are times when you can find the same axle in different truck brands. I don't recommend trying to fit a Dodge axle into a GM product because you'll run into too many unexpected differences like spacing of the leaf spring mounting pads, size of the u-joint yoke, parking brake design and cable length, and things like that.

I forgot too to mention that rear brake wheel cylinders or calipers are available in different piston diameters for different applications. Unless you plan on bolting on your original brake backing plates and hardware to the new axle, you'll need to be sure those parts are the same to maintain the designed-in braking balance. This gets into a legal issue that we have to keep in mind when we do these kinds of repairs. It bears mentioning that this could come up in a courtroom when the other guy ran the red light and caused a crash. A lawyer or insurance investigator will look very carefully for suspension ride height that has been altered from stock, and any other modifications that affect braking, handling, or steering response. If they find anything like that, they will convince a jury that you were partly at fault because you were less able to avoid the crash, and they will be right. Lawyers don't work with common sense, and we have to be thinking about that every time we work up an estimate for repairs. That's why sometimes it looks like we're selling you parts that aren't needed, and it's why we replace some parts that could possibly be repaired.