Yesterday on the way home from the races I noticed a whine in the rear. I only noticed it at 65, none at a lower speed and nothing I could hear (my hearing isn't real good though) at a higher speed. It wasn't a constant whine either, it comes and goes if you know what I mean. I was thinking pinion bearing but needed to check some things.

This morning I climbed under the truck and checked things out. When I built this rearend I put all new bearings in, and have all new ujoints and carrier bearing also. Less than 7500 miles on anything. I noticed the rear ujoint had no play, but it would move up and down in one direction about 1/32 of an inch or so. The carrier bearing has no play, but I can move the driveshaft and bearing in the rubber 3/8 of an inch or so, I don't remember if this is normal or not. I greased the ujoints and went out for a test drive without the trailer. I can still hear the noise, but it was real faint compared to yesterday, I could barely hear it. Of course this was with no trailer on now.

Any ideas? I can't do anything today as I need the truck to pull our forklift a short distance to a one day job tomorrow. I was then going to drain the fluid and pull the cover and see if I can see anything. I hate to tear into the rear end if its not a pinion bearing, but I don't know what else to do. I was thinking the pinion bearing would be a constant whine at a given speed, but I'm not sure. I'm sure open to opinions. Just for your info I used yukon bearings and spicer greasable ujoints.

Thanks guys.

 

Sorry to hear this but I'm no help. Bump time! Hope the races went good!

 

Well that stinks. I haven't had pinion bearings come and go personally . I wonder what your pinion angle does with the trailer ? Is the slip yoke bottomed out with the trailer maybe? I think the carrier rubber movement you have sounds pretty normal.
I would pull axle shafts and drive shaft and feel the pinion bearings by hand . You know what you are doing I know that, just what's rolling around in my head.

 

Thanks Aaron, I will try that. I don't think the trailer makes much difference on the pinion angle. With these springs I have it is real solid back there, it doesn't sag at all. I will say though, the pinion angle is a little much with all these leaves. I've been debating on pulling a couple leaves out. I really don't need 10. I'm thinking of changing that rear ujoint again too. By not constant on the whine I mean there is about a half second between each time I hear it. Whine.....whine....whine...etc

Thanks for the bump Glenn. Races sucked. I broke out 1st round by .006. Try again next time.

 

How is the tire wear? I had a set on a dually pick up a wierd whine at only certain speeds. They were a little more than half worn and only had a minor wear irregularity. I couldn't nail it down for awhile and I ended up changing tires and it solved the whine problem

 

Are you sure it's on the truck and not a wheel bearing on the trailer?

 

Darin has a 48' trailer and it would take super ears to hear trailer wheel bearings.

 

Ben, the rear tires are getting worn pretty good, but there is no irregular wear pattern. I wondered about them, but didn't think that would be it. Thanks for the notice though, I may be getting some pretty soon.

Mike, Glenn, I really don't think it is the trailer, but I'm going to check all 6 anyway. I was thinking if it was the trailer the noise could "come through" the pickup and make it noticable. Maybe I'm wrong, but I will check.

Thanks guys

 

my truck got noisy after first 5k miles, dealer thought it was the tranny
rebuilt it and noise went away but came back after 5k
rebuilt again and after 5k it came back
waited until 100 mile before end of warranty and they rebuilt it again
after 5k it came back
drove it another 70k and the pinion bearing went
replace axle and no more noise


so yeah noise can travel sometime

 

Well, seems it is a pinion bearing. I pulled the driveshaft and both axles, it seemed ok until I noticed the pinion nut had backed off a little bit and had a very minimal amount of in/out on the pinion. I tightened the nut. I put a new ujoint in the rear also. Then went for a drive and the noise was more noticable. Still only at 65ish, but more noticable now. I guess tightening the nut put more pressure on the bearings and made the noise worse. I'm off early tomorrow, so I'll tear it apart and fix it. Crap.

 

Hey man...At least you can fix it yourself. I had to farm my rear end out and ended up paying $1400 when I was all said and done

 

That's one benefit Jarrett, just bums me out I have to tear it apart. Guess it could be worse though.

 

Yeah, I echo Jarrett's sentiments and wish I could work on rear-end issues. Guess I could always learn at some point!

 

Lotta reading and a lotta practice man!

 

When my rear end goes out I'll go to a chiropractor, I mean Darin! LOL