1997 ram 2500 The rear diff started growling the other day. I put it up on jack stands tho run it to make sure thats where the growling was comming from. In fact is was in the rear diff. at 25 MPH it was preaty loud. Tonight I took it apart. All of the gears look good to me and the bearings show some wear, but nothing like I was expecting with the noise it was making. Now I am questioning what the problem is or was. I just dont want to put it back together with new bearings and still have the same problem. Any advise. This will be my first rear end job except for changing a pinion seal. THANKS

 

Do you have an lsd? Ive heard them to be somewhat of a common problem the lsd explodes....


If the rear end is toast get a whole rear end assembly...they are easy to do...ive done it in 5 hours by myself no power tools or lift...just muscle and jackstands...pretty simple



Http://car-part.com theres a good site to find parts

 

I dont have much diff experience lsd is limited slip diff right? How do I tell if I have it?

 

forgot to add that while taking it apart I found that the wheel bearings on the drivers side was not smoth not a lot of slop just not as smith as the other side.

And when I had it up on jackstands running it when the tranny shifted into second the drive shaft jumped about a half an inch.

 

Based on your posts i would recommend that you do not attempt this job. I have been working on cars and trucks for 15 yrs and i would not attempt it, not by myself. Everything has to be perfect. Its not like you just pull it out swap bearings and throw it back in, i mean you can but you will be doing it again in a few thousand miles.

 

Well then I guess that makes two of us. I have just never done any diff work. I found the steps for setting the back lash, sounds easy enough to me. I was just trying to get some insite from some one who has done this before.

 

As you have the carrier out of the diff, look between the side gears and the carrier for clutch disc's if you have them then you have a lsd. What are the pinion bearing's like?