I've got an accational (like every 30 miles) a whining grinding sound. I tried to listen and it sounds directly in the rear end... so I'm scared to drive my truck. Looked under it and see seal is leaking. I put it on stands to turn the axle in neutral and it sounds ok. I get under it to turn the shaft by hand and it was alright. A little up and down play, but not much. When I turn the shaft by hand.. say, forward then quickly to reverse. There's a little slack in the turn. Like 1/4 or 1/2 turn then thud the gears start to move the wheels.
Does anyone have anything they'd like to throw in? I added half a quart of oil.. but could it be as simple as that. I don't want to break down, fixed the brakes on the half ton today. Gonna drive it for awhile, but need the f-350 in my life :x :|
My opinion is these diff's are pretty solid, but leaking seals is never a good thing. I would have to break out the tools and work to repair the leaks. I recently had to replace my rear u-joint and didn't notice the movement you mention. Wish I could be more of assistance, but I'm sure someone will reach out with more and probably more questions.
Did you test drive after your inspection and additional gear oil?
I didn't test drive. Scared something's gonna lock up. I've been reading the pay load on the pinion nut might have loosened up... I'm ok if I have to replace a pinion seal and front bearing.. but idk about the rear one. Def. don't kno about a carrier bearing. Hoping it's something simple. And yes, little up and down play. Maybe 1/8 inch
When I had movement up & down it was the carrier bearing and I did have some squealing. The u-joint was causing the good o'le clunk after a stop.
I've learned there is no job to big that a little homework, the right tools, patients, and some common sense can't over come. I've now got me a great garage I've put some awesome tools in that's big enough to pull the truck in and go to town.
Saves me money and I enjoy the projects even if it takes me several weekends.
Do you have a 4x4?
Just thinking, but I would remove the rear drive line and drive with just front for a short distance to see if things are quiet. Sounds extreme, but I dropped the rear drive line in 15 minutes and through it in my bed to go get the u-joint pressed out. I now have a 12 ton press in my garage ( Harbor Freight $97) Haha
Howling noise under deceleration = Pinion bearing preload has loosened.
Howling noise under acceleration = Gears are worn out or are out of alignment or depth with each other.
If them gears are worn, replace them. I had a Ford dealer rebuild my '03 rear twice under warranty and it lasted about 5K miles each time. Finally took it elsewhere and found out that when the C&P are out of alignment, they wear funny and you can set them back up but they'll just pull themselves out of alignment again. It took a second dealer to install a new C&P to finally solve the problem.
The dealer that screwed it up twice put it through warranty the first time then I took a fifth wheel out to the west coast and by the time I got back it was whining again. They rebuilt it again and used an "of of warranty adjustment" option that they have (or used to have) available for customer loyalty. Problem is they were the ones that screwed it up but then used up my adjustment to fix it the second time. It failed again then they said they would do nothing more for me.
I took it to the dealer where I bought it who treats me like gold and he said he would keep it as cheap as possible. He did it for under $1000 with a new C&P (which was probably about 1/2 price) and he was the one that gave me the heads up that you could have rebuilt it a 100 times with the old C&P and it would just keep failing from the worn gears pulling themselves out of alignment again.
He won in the end though because when I went back to pick it up, I traded the '03 on an '04... I wish all dealers were like him, unfortunately he is 2-1/2 hours from me but I bought 4 of them off him anyways, dealer service means everything, IMO.
I'm not sure exactly which rear ended I have. Me and the cousin Jacked it up and checked into it. We think it's more serious then a pilot bearing and seal. Thanks guys
I let mine go, and go, and go. At over 213k, along with near constant whining it developed a clunking noise that came on around 40 MPH up to 60MPH under light throttle. By the time all was said and done I rebuilt the drive shaft (carrier bearing shot also replaced all the u-joints, removed the harmonic ring and rebalanced), replaced the ring and pinion, bearings, and the posi (new Auburn unit) itself.
I can't remember the last time my truck was this quiet. Aside from the pitter-patter of the engine the drivetrain is silent.
Had to spend a week and a half running around in front wheel drive while I waited for a service time at the shop. It's a well respected shop so it was worth the wait. For everything it cost 2 racks (the driveshaft work alone was a little over $300 of that). While not cheap it's still less than new truck payments and it should be good for another 200k.
Bronco Glenn, so you never worried about your rear end locking up? My sisters truck caught on fire when I was a kid so that might explain my paranoia. Does anyone know front those numbers myrear end gear ratio? Thanks guys.
I haven't really been driving it. Put a new AC compressor in my wrecked seirra and have been hot roding it around lately. Lol
Didn't worry about the rear end much. I got some faint clicking noises from it while running around in front wheel drive. Either way the clunking I had coming from it before I dropped the shaft pretty much told me it was toast.
I was more worried about putting too much throttle on the front end and breaking something. I know the Dana 60 is a stout axle, but having to take everything the 7.3 had to give along with handling the steering was my only real matter of concern. So I avoided rapid throttle input and would go easy when starting from a stop and into a turn.
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