Hey Tmac and Forum,

I just popped the plug off with my fingers and dipped in and i was greeted with oil. no joking when i was told this stuff smells skunky, holy wah!

None the less, there is oil in the rear diff and it seems to be at a high enough level; i didn't have to reach very far at all to feel some.

 

Hmmm...next step is to pull the cover on the differential off, catch the oil like when you change engine oil, so you can check it for metal shavings. If you don't see anything inside that's obviously broken/thrashed, I'd seal it back up and put some synthetic hypoid oil in there and start saving for a boneyard replacement differential. I only paid $500 for mine cause the mechanic had me over a barrel and I needed one with the same gearing for a 4WD. I found a couple of 2WD ones for cheaper, but the gearing was different and the shock hangers were on the wrong side of the axle. Yours is 2WD right? so it will probably be cheaper. Or you can just run it until it goes, but eventually it will.

 

tmac,

Thanks for all the info. I will post back what i find when i pull the cover and check everything out. so for the time being i am probably going to drive the truck only a small amount, i have to help my girlfriend move a few things around n such. What would you suspect to be the worse case scenario when "it goes"? lol. I just dont want other systems of the truck to be torn up if it goes bad. If theres a risk of damaging the trans/engine/etc then i am just gonna hold off on driving all together until i fixxer up.

yea it is a RWD. I think i am gonna double check the U-joints from another angle just to be thorough.

Could the sound be coming from something in the rear other than the differential? somewhere within the rear axle assembly?

I really appreciate all the info!

 

have you checked you trannie fluid? if its auto the planitary gears make a cool wining noise. Manual gear boxes will have a good sound to them as well. also check you tire pressurs and wear. you'd be suprised how often that can be the case. Thought i was going to have to do wheel bearing once but she just needed about 15lbs of air go fig.
good luck hope this gave you some ideas.

 

When it goes, the damaged part inside the differential simply gives up the ghost. It could lock up, no wheels turning, or it could simply not get power from the driveshaft...spin, spin, spin but no forward motion. Or, and I actually saw this happen once...I was driving the tow vehicle...you'll look in your rear view mirror and see the axle threading its way out of the differential housing...I towed a buddy's truck across town to the dealer with my pickup and a chain way back when and we got about a block from the dealer when I looked back in my mirror and saw his left rear wheel and axle about 2.5 feet out from his wheel well. We pulled into a parking lot, jacked his truck up and threaded the axle back into the case. Then he called a tow truck to move it a block to the dealer's shop...bummer, $80 down the drain and we almost made it with the "my roommate's got a truck and a chain" option.
I drove my 93 Dak to and from work for about 2 months with the old, bad rear end. I finally got nervous enough to take care of it when the noise moved to the low end of the speed band...it would start about 25 mph and then continue, instead of just showing up at around 45 to 50 mph.
Tire noise will come and go with road conditions and air pressure. If your U-joints are sound and your wheel bearings check out...no up/down, side-to-side play...then you have a prob inside that pumpkin.

 

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to drop an update real quick. I had some free time tonite so i took the truck on a cruise around town to pickup some brewski. I took the long way to check out the sound some more. I made another video just showing the sound at higher speeds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcbOYlvkixU

The other thing i noticed is when i jerked the wheel to the left, the sound became louder for a moment. Would this be loading the right side? I feel if so then that is an indication of something specifically on the right side causing my issue.

I was reading over the gear noise on post #2 and using that to help with my diags.

Is not much, but is progress in my book :-D. Lookin forward to monday off, hoping to get more answers then.

Thanks

 

I know this is a mega old thread but I just wanted to drop a quick note on it.


So I have been doing a fair amount of research and reading and all that and I am thinking this could be an issue with the differential bearings. I feel like the pinion bearing would be a "higher" pitch than this sound. then again I think I may be a bit pitch deaf, lol.

So anyway, I did open the diff and did an oil change but didn't get a chance to really inspect the gears since i didn't have a jack/stands that will support the truck. Looking into getting some to raise the back off the ground and get a good look at the differential.

Any input on if my thought of this being the differential bearings is accurate is appreciated.

Thanks forum!