I thought that is what you might find. When a bearing starts to fail in the rear it is not all that loud and can be hard to hear especially if you have loud mufflers. when the bearings start to gall they get hot and actually weld themselves together which then forces the inner race to start spinning on the axle. That is why I always recommend changing them with unknown history. Cutting them off is fine and is actually the fastest way to remove. As far as I know all the axles have the same dimensions on 7,8,9 8.2 rears. I have heard of unobtainable axles being repaired But if I were you I would price a new one shipped and also see if you can get the open diff. on Craig's list for 100 to 150. whatever the seller thinks that is all it is worth and if you let it sit I can almost guarantee it won't sell for what he wants. Then do what makes the best sense for you. The easiest way to avoid that scenario with a bearing is to jack it up and check for play once and awhile, it would have avoided ruining the axle.