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Rear Differential Issue/Howling Growling Deceleration

7K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  bluejeep 
#1 ·
New to the forum, kinda new to Jeeps. I have a 2004 Rubicon with 101,xxx miles, recently it has developed a howling/growling sound coming from the rear diff, I noticed it a while back but it wasn't bad and thought it was just drivetrain noise, it has gotten worse so I decided to try and figure out where it was coming from, I had changed the fluid on it not too long after I had gotten it almost a year ago, it does have a 4 inch lift as well. They way I diagnosed it was the rear end was I put it up on jack stands, put it in gear and I chocked the throttle so it would be at 65 where the sound was most prevalent, I listened with a socket and traced it to the pinion, the pinion was hot to the touch but the cover was not, so I thought pinion bearings, I also pulled the drive shaft and ran it that way as well with no noises. On the highway it only makes the noise when in gear and coasting, or with the clutch pushed in. I took it to a reputable shop told them what I just said they agreed it was pinion bearings, ordered a bearing kit and installed it, this did not fix the noise/ issue, they did say fluid still looked great, gears were meshing perfectly and they had found some shavings up by the pinion bearing making them think that it was the pinion bearing for sure, they now want to take it to a trans shop for a second opinion which is fine but I don't believe the trans is the issue, is there anything else that could be causing the issue as I am baffled and so are they. They have 30+ years working on jeeps. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
 
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#2 ·
Check the Factory Service Manual. It gives a pretty good explanation of sounds/vibrations emanating from the diff. There is obviously something not right inside the diff. I would suspect it is still in the pinion arena.
 
#6 ·
Yeah pull the rear driveshaft and the noise is gone, they actually went through entire rearend but they couldn't figure it out, they told me they think the slip joint being a little loose could cause this noise but sounds like bearings to me, I don't see how the slip joint on the driveshaft could cause a howling noise. I do agree I need double cardan shaft, and some adjustable control arms to get my angle right, its funny cause it still has factory upper and lower control arms with a 4 inch lift.
 
#9 ·
I had a similar issue on my 2006, the rear pinion nut had backed off and was presenting similar to what you describe. I re-torqued it to 160ft/lbs +5 I believe and it hasn't resurfaced. I did purchase a new rear pinion nut but didn't have a dial gauge torque wrench to check resistance properly with the brakes off to set it up. I'm sure if you've done the rear end then that pinion nut should be nice and tight but thought I'd mention it.
 
#11 ·
I'm interested in this as I have a slight rear differential howl after a regear from 4 Wheel Parts.

The Jeep is in their shop. The counter guy called and said the howl was probably from the TC balancer and the differential is OK. Unless the counter guy is mistaken on this info I think I'm being given a bunch of baloney so they don't have to go back into the differential.

I'm going to do what I can to check on their differential set up. Is there a way I can determine if the nut was re-used? Also is there anything else I can do to determine if the differential is not set up right and causing the howl?

I have a thread on this on ROF and I will report this situation with 4 WP's in a day or so.
 
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