sounds like it could be stretched gears... you do alotta burn outs?

 

what would "stretched" gears look like? I've never heard of such a thing. Broken teeth, heads, axle shafts, yes.

 

On a side note, I bet ive seen at least 3 complete Dodge Ram rear ends on CL here recently for sale.

 

Thanks for the help. I am going to take it apart again this weekend and reset everything. Preload/backlash. I will get a new nut also. I have not done any burn outs with this truck. If this weekend is a failure I guess I will drive it until it fails. I also know a shop is the best way to go but Im having trouble swallowing the price. And besides what fun would that be. LOL.

 

I hope you got yourself a new crush sleeve while you were at it. The only way to set the preload on the pinion bearings. Aim for 10 to 15 in/lbs. (used bearings)

 

and a little trick they don't tell you in the book - amongst a million other things - used bearings on the carrier, instead of torquing them to 75 ft./lbs., go a little less like 60 ft./lbs. They don't mention what the torque should be on used bearings for the carrier which makes no sense to me. I had mine torqued to 75 one time after readjusting everything and it ran a bit hotter. Luckily I didn't blue anything, but since then, I've put new bearings in. After a few hundred miles, I measured the force it took to loosen the backlash adjusters and they were right at 60 ft./lbs. which tells me the bearings wore in a little. Beam style wrenches are good for this type of thing.