freegdr

Jakeduece did you ever pull the shaft and see if the nut is loose

builtnotbought89'

Jake, if the pinion bearing grenades in the housing it will throw the gears inside & could possibly lock up you back axle! Needless to say if this happens at freeway speeds it could easily kill you, your passengers, or fellow motorists! It is not something to take lightly, so drive it as little as possible tell you can afford to replace the back end.

94cherokeeman

How can I tell if I have a lad reat

builtnotbought89'

Open up the diff.

94cherokeeman

I am tomorrow what do I look for

jakeduece

I never pulled the driveshaft, If the pinion nut is loose could that be my major issue? IF the pinion bearing is bad, because my funds are limited, would I be in over my head replacing the bearing myself? Also, I read a very recent thread today with somebody that has a differential issue, and someone said that if the noise goes away when off the gas (my symptoms) it's the ring/pinion, if it makes it all the time it's the pinion bearing. How accurate is this? Either way it's gonna be a few weeks at least before I can change out the differential, which really sucks because this is my DD. Thanks guys for your help, it helps tremendously!

413maxwedge

Ummm maybe cause you dont have a limited slip axle, or he has a locker and you don't

cruiser54

I agree. Hijacking always confuses the issue.

Savage71

open it up and see whats going on. if the pinion is loose...tighten it. rotate the gears..chips? pitting? pick up some 3.99 diff oil and refill it...see what happens.

It can be pretty tricky to diy...diffs are a surprisingly precise little device. but i'm sure there are guys on here that do it. you'll have to set your mesh, pinion depth, backlash, preload, etc. and a few of the bearings are pressed, so you'd need to work that out.

it might be splitting hairs in determining whether its the gears or the bearing...either way, you're probably looking at a complete teardown to diy it. I'd prob hit the jy dude. Put some junk on CL and raise cash for your jeep man...she needs ya!

jakeduece

I'll dig into it Sunday, I'll get back to you guys with my findings, and probably with a few more "noobie" questions lol. Thanks!

builtnotbought89'

I would definitely recommend pulling the cover, & tightening the pinion nut a little. What ever you do don't pull the carrier out, cause then you will need to reset your gears, which isn't a "noob" task!

jakeduece

I took off my differential cover today, lots of foamy brown differential fluid in there. Also, I tried tightening the pinion nut and couldn't do it, too rusty. But i took the driveshaft off and wiggled the yoke, not much play at all. Maybe a few millimeters, enough to just make a slight click when you really tug on it. I looked at every gear, they all looked to be in good shape, except for the pinion gear, which had a TINY chip missing from the very end of the tooth. Smaller than a 1/16 of an inch.
since I tore the cover off I figure I'd grab new fluid. I tore off the cover after driving 20 miles or so, and the whole differential was pretty hot. What does that mean?

jakeduece

also, the side gears are a tad loose. is that bad?

jakeduece

heres a video i made, you can clearly hear the sound. notice how it stops when i lift off the gas.

builtnotbought89'

Were you able to move the carrier & ring gear at all? Also I assume you cleaned all that milky oil (caused from water getting in your diff) out with brake cleaner. The "side gears" your talking about are the spider gears, & those always tend to have play in them.