Rear diff noise
- Thread starter f5driver
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Not good...noise and the picture
How many miles on the oil?
How many miles on the oil?
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- #7
Gears and ARB installed 40k ago. About 16k on the gear oil so maybe that's not an unusual amount of shavings. The noise could also be from a wheel bearing. Lost a axle seal which puked oil on the bearing for about 400 miles during a road trip.
Side question, how can I tell when a rear axle seal needs replaced?
I swear someone posted a pic recently. Depending on how bad it is you'll have weeping fluid that collects gunk around the hub. If it's bad enough you'll get radial spray of fluid onto the tire and wheel well.
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Yep, if the axel seals fail then you will either see weeping/flinging fluid around the hub or you will find water in the diff fluid when you drain it.
Looks like gear shavings to me. I have always seen a small amount of metalic gunk on the plug but that thing has a fro!
Looks like gear shavings to me. I have always seen a small amount of metalic gunk on the plug but that thing has a fro!
I would call that an excessive amount of shavings on 16K oil after the gears/diff have been well worn in (24k). To clarify the true amount of shaving how far does the magnet stick up above the threads. Can you wipe the shavings off on a paper towel and take a picture?
If you have some of the used oil you can send it into Blackstone labs ($20) and they can tell you where the metal is coming from possible. In the mean time I would replace the oil and wait for the results. Then check the plug again and see if you are getting more. Possibly as simple as a shim. Not uncommon when a very thin shim is used on the outside to get spit out under hard use.
I can see the resemblance
F5- That is not good! Hope the gears didn't set a strange wear pattern...that could get ugly. ARB's jeep was in for the same thing in Atlanta, the gears set a strange pattern and it needed new bearings, and gears. It sounded like a wind up toy under power.
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- #14
The drain plug is tall so in the pic the magnet is covered with gunk. I think the oil build-up on the shavings makes it look much worse. My fingers are crossed for a bearing or a shim. Camelback Toyota is scheduled to look at it next week.
Hey i own a 1997 T-100 with 140,000 miles on it. I also have had a noise from the rear end. I did not have any metal shavings, like in that pic. Its a loud humming nosie. The faster i drive the louder the noise. I also changed the rear diff. oil and it was a little more quiet. But it remains still. Should i change out the ring, gear, etc. ? thanks
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- #16
Dealer replaced the passerger side rear wheel bearing which was shot when the axle seal blew(stupid design). So the grinding sound is gone. But I still have a hum from the diff. So here's what I'm thinking and looking for comments. I had the rear pinion seal replaced about 2k ago. Perhaps the mech over torqued the pinion nut. Would that cause gear noise? Or perhaps it's pinion bearings making the humming sound?
Did they replace the crush sleeve when they replaced the pinion seal? What was the reason for the pinion seal going bad?
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- #18
Crush sleeve was not replaced. I'll replace it, torque and set the pre load and hopefully the bearing and gears will be ok. I have no idea why the pinion seal went bad. Any other ideas Phil? Thanks for the help.
A loose pinion bearing will many times result in bad pinion seal. If that is the case could explain the drain plug. Loss of pinion shim can equal noisy gears.
By replacing the crush sleeve you then can get a good look at everything.
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- #20
Got it sorted out. Dealership has an experianced mechanic who tore into the diiff. He replaced the pinion bearings, crush sleeve and set the backlash. The gears and locker were fine, whew. Also replaced the passenger wheel bearing which was shot once the axle seal gave way. While the axles were out I had the driver side axle seal replaced too. This probably should be performed as PM since the wheel bearings are difficult to replace.
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