I agree. I have done a litttle research on this issue and there is some seriously fine tolerances that have to be observed and I have no experience in this area. My Haynes/chilton manual basically says any job on the rear end is above the level of a shade tree mechanic (my words). Which I find a little incongruent because in this same manual they give you directions for a complete engine tear down and overhaul, which IMO is way above most people's level of competence.

It is probably my own fault because I was just commenting to a friend who was chiding me about changing my diff oil and said something like " yeah, you are probably right, who do you know that has EVER had a rear end problem"

 

Here is a follow on question. If it is a gear problem, is it OK to driving this the way it is. How big of hurry should I be in to get it repaired. Two days, two weeks, two months?

 

My gears whined for six months, and never died because I took it in before they ate themselves. I had a friend back in high school with a jeep who heard a whine on his way to school, and his gears exploded on the way home.

Really no way to tell.

 

you could get lucky but driving it that way can destroy the gears fast faster its looked at the better if its just bearings your looking at a $100 for bearing/install kit and about $300 to $400 bucks in labor. specail tools are required and experience is a huge plus as this is something that is better taught than learned from a book most home garage jobs likely fail early like mine did from first owner installing 4.56 gears....If its a stock geared rear end your best bet is to get another axle from the scrapyard. It will be cheaper and if you look you can find one with the lsd/posi... (flip side to that is there more to go wrong)

 

I bought a boat once in which the po hit something with the prop...the scag was broken but his told me it was that way forever....He lied....4th time I used the boat the gears exploded on me in the middle of lake Erie.
We sat there for hour shooting flairs and waving flags...everyone avoided us like the plague until one good group of guys finally came and towed us to stergion point.....it would have been a $400 minimum to get towed back if I radioed it in.....
My point...dont wait for it to explode on the thruway or worse some backwoods road far from home at night with no cell service....if it can happen plan for it....just my 2 cents

 

Did a little more trouble shooting yesterday and would like someone's opinion on this. The whine is speed related, both in acceleration and deceleration. This leads me to think it is one (of three) of the bearings in the differential housing. If it was Ring/pinion I would think that it would not make the whine while coasting when there is no torque on the pinion gear. Thoughts?

 

if the noise is the same either way I'm inclined to agree with you....either a bearing is bad or something is loose....my pinion bearing was bad and it only whine on decel.. so maybe its your carrier bearing....that article I linked for you earlier suggests that too.....the thing is your teeth will wear funny on your gears if you dont address it in the near future.

 

i agree with that too. ur best bet will prolly be ur bearings after hearing that

 

Bad gears will whine all the time.