No grinding noises came about when driving the truck but i only made it about 5 miles. The front U joint caps on the rear drive shaft didnt want to party. 100$ tow later, im home. Drive shaft still seems in okay shape.

 

Hmmm...I'll bet your front universal joint is the culprit. Seriously, I'd swap the rear joint out while you have the shaft out. No sense pulling the shaft twice.

 

I agree if you have the cash replace all of them.

 

Had to take drive shaft out twice anyways. I replaced both front and rear u joints for the rear driveshaft. Then the front joint for the rear drive shaft broke, so had to replace that. Now I have new u joints for the rear driveshaft.

Ive started to noticed a winding/howl noise thats very faint. Have to really listen for it to hear it. But im guessing since i screwed with the pinion nut, the bearings are either loose and being damaged.

Can i just retorque the pinion nut to 210 ft lbs-ish and hope for the best, or would that just make it worse?

there is no movement/slop or grinding noises at the rear pinion at the rear drive shaft.

 

There is a spec for rotational torque required to turn the pinion with used bearings.... In the FSM somewhere.

 

Tried searching for the service manual on the site, link seems broken. So does other dodge sites. Anyone have a non-broken link to the fsm?

 

Check here.

 

i figured it out. Its a download vs just clicking it.

Oops.

10-20 Inch pounds for rotating torque on original bearings.

210 ft lbs at least and going up 5 ft lbs increments on the nut. Thanks yall. Ill figure out the front driveshaft stuff later down the road. Funds have gone to fixing the rear