Hi All, the other day, I was backing up out of a gas station, passenger rear tire ran over a curb and driver side rear tire spun/burned out a few seconds while I maneuvered back into the road way.
Now I have a terrible growl/grind coming from the rear axle.
I attached a video of the truck up on jack stands.

I know I have to take apart the rear differential, never done so but I have the manual and watched many videos on it.

Any ideas as to what I did or what you believe to be wrong? (please see video I uploaded to youtube: )

Truck is a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab
9.25 LD Rear Axle
4.7L Engine

Thanks for any and all your ideas.
Nick

 

Mark the passenger tire and see if it is on each revolution the sound is made, if so, I would say wheel bearing.
If it's different, differential.

Side note: Keep your kid out of the way.

 

Thanks for the post Later2U. I will try that this weekend. My son is very careful and I definitely talked to him about the dangers of running a vehicle in drive on jackstands.

 

I found the main culprit to be the carrier bearing for the rear axle. It was completely torn apart. Replaced and reinstalled.
Now however, I went and drained the rear differential and found a broken tooth in the bottom pan. It is a tooth from the side diff. gear, not the smaller pinion gear.

Can I just buy and replace one gear? (maybe track one down in a salvage yard)
or
Do I have to buy the entire gear package with 2 pinion gears and 2 side gears?

Thank you again for your responses.
~Nick

 

Pretty sure they should be replaced as a set......

 

Not sure if this was been completed, i just ran into an issue of a growling noise about a month ago. I own a 2010 ram 1500 4x4 sport hemi. I assumed it was my pinion bearing that was worn. (which proved to be correct). I was a bit confused about your post though. There are 4 spider gears, your pinion ring attached to the carrier assembly, and of course you pinion gear. Honestly if you had a broken tooth, its probably best to replace everything that gear made contact with. Including your bearings, inner outer pinion bearings, and left and right carrier bearings.
Im attempting to do this job myself, i had the misfortune of not only my inner pinion bearing being worn severly, but my pinion nut had backed out while driving. Thankfully i was coming to a stop light when my drive shaft dropped. And when i was close to a stop, my rear end locked up. No major damage, just some scaring to the carrier assembly. Nothing fun i have to say.
BUT YES, YOU CAN BUY PARTS SEPARATE, BUT YOU'RE BETTER OFF GETTING THE SETS, ESPECIALLY WITH THE BEARINGS, IT WILL COME WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED, NEW CRUSH SLEEVE, NEW PINION NUT, YOUR BEARINGS, AND THE COMPOUND TO CHECK YOUR GEARING CONTACT.

 

Agreed, it's best to replace the whole assembly.

 

You have to replace the ring and pinion gear as a set, they are machined and tested together.