Last year I thought I had a helluva problem. Noise all the time, accelerating, decelerating and at a steady speed. Nothing changed the tone but the speed. New tires fixed it

 

Thanks guys. I forgot to mention that its an open diff. So the easiest way to check a driveshaft u-joint is to get the rear wheels off the ground and see what moves around? Sounds easy enough.

And just in case it is a pinion bearing, the whole diff would need to be rebuilt correct?

 

yes, but IMO, you could get a whole rear axle assembly that has the same gears, and just swap it out....ive done it on the ground with no power tools, by myself in about 5-6 hours.....

 

If it is the pinion bearing, the seal would most likely be shot also, and grease would be getting flung all around too.

edit, providing it's not real low or empty.

 

That's my sisters truck in the video. The pinion bearings had a little chunk missing from a roller or two in them and that was causing the noise but the only symptom was the noise because they hadn't exploded yet. The seal wasn't leaking either. So the seal leaking will depend on how bad they're damaged if that is even the problem. Let chipped bearings go too long and they'll eventually blow up on you and could damage the axle housing and gears then it will cost a lot more to fix.

 

I agree 100 percent, but lets fix what we know is wrong first.

 

Fix the U-Joint, I agree if you KNOW it's bad, fix it first. Rare to see a bad pinion that didn't have the seal go first, so looking for leaking fluid around the seal would be an easy thing to check for.

 

I've been having a problem lately with the rear end in my Durango, when i let off the gas there is a cladder sound like a roller coaster going up the hill. I had the pinion bears replaced and it still makes the noise, the guy at the garage is not sure of the problem. Anyone have a suggestion as to what the problem might be?