Howdy,

I just purchased a 1999 Ram 1500 2 WD Ext. Cab it has 176,000 miles and a 5-speed standard transmission.

When I am driving betwen 35 and 50 mph There is a very loud whining noise. It sounds like tire whine but it is very loud. After hearing the noise I replaced the tires because they where bad anyways and the noise still persists.

I checked the differential fluid level and it is at the level of the oil port.
I tried to test the U-Joints and they seam solid.
Is there a test for the carrier bearing?


Also how do you maintain the fluid in the standard transmission.

Thanks for any help,
Ian

 

welcome to DF...

1st off download the manual from the merry xmas thread pinned to the top of this forum, it'll help you alot.

the diff does have a bearing that does go bad but it's there all the time and it'll track with vehicle speed... can you give more details on the whine? does it track with the engine or vehicle speed?

 

sounds like the rear end to me. Mine went out at around 150K. The pinion bearing failed and then the gears were not aligned properly and it started out as a whine and got much worse over time. I just got the 3.92s and a new posi rear and put it all in at that time and I have not been sorry.

 

Thanks for the replies. I will check out the manual.

The noise does not seem related to engine speed mainly road speed. ie. I can be going 55 with no noise and slow down to 45 and reproduce the noise every time.

The noise also goes away when I push in the clutch.

How do I check the rear-end bearings? I have never opened up a differential before.

Thanks for the help,
Ian

 

I looked through the doc and I cannot see any information regarding the procedures for checking and changing the fluid in a manual transmission or how to determine what transmission I have.

Thanks again,
Ian