Dodge Repair: Dodge dakota rear axle

Question
So I have a 2001 dodge Dakota and I found out that I had a leak in the rear drive shaft. So before I took the four bolts off I moved the drive shaft with my hand and it moved really loose. Then I took off the four bolts and dropped the drive shaft and yes there was no seal there. But I also notice that the bearing was gone too, I blew up inside the housing. So I guess what I'm trying to get at is what do I have to do to put the new bearing on and what do I have to do if the guts are damage how do I put the new guts in and do it myself so I don't have to pay someone else to do it

Answer
Hi Nick,
The '04 manual shows two rear axles. size 8 1/4 and 9 1/4 inches.  The first step would be to decide which size you have. I don't see a suggestion on how to measure which one you have. There are about 30 pages for each. The bearing is called the pinion bearing. I have no experience with these axles, and the pages are so numerous that it would be a task for about two hours for me to copy those and send them via email to you to study. I would suggest that you look for a '01 Dakota manual on eBay to get a start on this question. It may not be too bad a job if you had the manual to work from. I can photo copy the pages for 10 cents a side and postal mail those to you as an alternative,