So today I noticed a squealing while I was driving my truck, barely noticeable at first, but gradually its gotten worse and worse until tonight I decided to diagnose it, jacked up my front tires, nothing there, checked my belts, they are good, checked all my wheels and lug nuts to make sure they were tight, still good, so the next thing I did was jack up the rear, went to turn my rear tires in neutral and they would barely turn, very hard to turn, so I tried turning it in neutral at the 4X4 switch which wouldn't work, which btw, how does that work, do you push it in and then voila its in neutral, or do you have to hold it in and it goes into neutral because neither way would that lock into neutral.

So I turned the truck on with the back tires jacked up and the truck in neutral just to try again, and what do I find to my surprise, the back tires were trying to turn in neutral!!! Not with enough pressure that I couldnt stop them with my own hands, but they were still turning under power even in neutral! So what could that mean? And that still didn't answer my question about the squealing, but on a brighter note while the tires were turning(In neutral) I could trace the squealing down to the driveshaft, but even so I couldn't tell if the squealing was from the driveshaft itself, the transmission, or the differential, the joints looked and felt solid and good. So if anyone has any idea I would greatly appreciate the input!

I really hope my rear differential isn't going because that is the reason why I got rid of my old 98 is because the rear differential kept going out on me. I do have the grenading lsd in my truck, is that a common sound for when that goes? I did check the diff fluid which was ridiculously high for some reason and brown and disgusting. PLEASE HELP!

 

Your problem is the needle bearings in the u-joints they dried up and now are making noise soon they will desintegrate. rear ends make a whining almost a howling noise when they go. There is nothing too make them squeal.You could get a bearing to do it but they rarely go without some sort of leakage hope it helps...

 

So you think that that is my problem? I hope so very much, u-joints are cheap and easy, gears are hard and very expensive...

 

damn, sounds like a problem I never want to encounter. If you make it to longview I'll try to listen for it while you drive. Does it happen at certain speeds or all the time?

 

all the time, Im taking it into a shop that I trust tomorrow to see what it is. I will definitely still try to make it up to Longview. Whatever it is it should be taken care of by thursday for sure.

 

Yep.....could be the UJ's, but I also didn't like the sound of your description of the diff oil.
I wonder if this trucks been in deep water a lot, fording and playing etc and had water ingress into the diff?
Al.

 

My bet is U joints, usually have a red color dust around the joint. Typical symptom.

 

This truck is my pavement queen, if it sees any kind of offroad its of the mildest kind, the other day I was out in about 3 or 4 inches of mud, not enough to do anything to the differential for sure.

When I looked at the joints it was dark so I couldnt see color, Ill update in the morning after the shop.

 

Any servere useage will cause premature wear, but generally they just go after a period of time. Drive shaft misalignment will difinitely cause joints to go prematurely.

 

I agree with u-joints!! And that is normal for rotation in neutral