abmobil

What are some signs of a rear end getting ready to fail?
I hear some light popping under acceleration.
I changed the oil the 2nd day I owned this thing and the magnet was full of crud with 98k on it.
I used amsoil 75w90 severe gear synthetic oil.

I jacked it up and with it in neatral I can spin both tires by hand and everything is smooth, but when I had it ideling in 3rd gear on jack stands it sounds like the light popping is coming from the axle.

I will admit that I did a couple of burnouts holding the brake in a place where no one was around to get a couple of pics just for fun.
Woops!!

Any feedback would be great. Thanks!

jerryp58

If it's coming from inside the housing, it could be a bearing starting to fail. If so, it'd be a lot better to change it (and the others) now before things start to get misaligned and the ring & pinion self-destruct.

Are you positive it's not a u-joint?

__________________

Jerry
2004 Frontier, King Cab, XE, 4x1, 4-cyl, 5-spd

abmobil

Thanks Jerry.
I really dont know. It happens under light acceleration only. I havent tried getting on it.
Im going to take a closer look today.

jerryp58

I couldn't feel any problem with the last u-joint I had fail. I had the rear up on jack stands and moved the driveshaft with the wheels locked and it gave me no indication of a problem. When I spun one of the rear wheels and the driveshaft rotated I heard a squeak coming from the joint (only when the wheel was going in reverse oddly enough). Anyway, when I pulled the joint and pulled the caps, one set of needles was rusted almost into a solid mass. I hope it's a u-joint in your case, it'd be a lot simpler and cheaper than a diff rebuild.

__________________

Jerry
2004 Frontier, King Cab, XE, 4x1, 4-cyl, 5-spd

abmobil

I was thinking today. Could it be the center support driveshaft bearing?
The noise seems a little quieter than last night and the truck drives great.

abmobil

Well, it is definently the diff.
I figuerd that out while I was driving yesterday ,and it went boom bam$#^$@$@$%^%boom a few times. Felt like I was rear ended a couple of times So I just kept it around 40 and puted home.

The two local junkyards said they have several on hand.
1 yard is asking for $150 and the other is asking $200.
Hopefully I will be able to go look at some tommorow and take one home with me.

Is there anything particular to look for when purchasing a used diff to check for signs of excessive wear before I go through the trouble of installing?
Thanks!