How can you check to see if your rear axle is going bad? The differential? I noticed of late that mine seems to shift hard when you take off from a stand still.

 

Jack it up, spin things by hand. Drop the driveshaft if you need to. See what things feel/sound like.

 

When you jack the back end up. Be sure to use jack stands in case the truck falls. Also, when you do have the back end up. Notice the driveshaft and is it a two- piece drive line or a one piece. Take note if you have a black boot with two clamps on the drive line. If you do have the black boot on the drive line. Then you may take one clamp off and try to add axle grease inside the boot and re-camp it. That is because the black boot is keeping debris from getting on the splines. If you have just one- piece drive line, check the yoke at the differential. They do come loose and that was one the recalls.