To grease or to NOT grease?
 

When I swapped axle bearings on my car I had to remove the axles. Do I need to put grease on the splines before I insert them back into the diff?

I used Lucas 75w90 and (I think Lucas) LSD additive. I don't have a grind, but I do have a new noise back there. Its as if I can feel every click for every movement of each axle spline.

Just do a light coat and fill the valley of the spline. Can't hurt and plus u can check to see how much of the splines are engaged

Axles are lubed internally, so no grease is not needed.

Lionel, the gear oil should be taking care of the lubrication between axle splines. When I installed my Moser 9", I installed them dry and the rear end sounds just fine minus some gear noise on the highway.

hmmm... My rear diff likes to make vibes with every groove of the splines at low speed(35mph and below) and above that its quiet. Seems like it is mostly from the passenger side. It WAS quieter at lower speeds before and louder at higher speeds before the swap.

Did the bearing, seal, oil, and additive swap and now a different noise and vibrations show up at lower speeds.

I cleaned out a lot of metal shavings from the diff cover magnet when I did the job. Maybe more shavings were in the old oil and the diff liked that better.

Maybe the Lucas stuff is not as good as the gm stuff.

thanks for the responses everybody.

Thanks Tim

Think it's possible you have twisted splines? Why exactly were you swapping just axles to begin with? I saw your pics on FB. I've used all kinds of different brands and weight fluids between my 10 bolt and 9". Never noticed a difference between ANY of them, except the price, honestly. So, this last time I went with cheapest non-synthetic Castrol there was.

on the post I corrected myself. I said I was swapping axles, but what I meant was I swapping out bearings and seals. Got caught up in the removing axles part. Probably was breating too much brake cleaner or something.

I am pretty sure the splines are not twisted since I didn't have this particular issue exactly before the job. They weren't visually twisted either.

There are bearings inside the diff part, right? Maybe those need to be changed

Figured out what my noise is.

When you remove the rotor, you know that gear looking thing that which is the outside of the axle? Well it is contacting my speed sensor.

I'm thinking maybe the axle was a little bit chewed up when I put it back in and this may have given the axle/bearing area a little slack to move around to allow this.

Sounds like the reluctor wheel for your abs/traction control is hitting the sensor...the sensor could be loose.

Its in there snug and secure. I did try to adjust it away from the reluctor wheel as best as I could. The noise was reduced. I still need to get it right.

I can't see the bearing having that much slop without being just crazy. Is it possible you changed the position of the reluctor? They are pressed on and can be moved by prying, you would know if you did this ad it takes some effort. Spin the wheel and see if the reluctor has a lot of runout (wobble).r

The only other thing is if you used "repair" axle bearings and maybe had one in crooked. Did your bearing look exactly like this

http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/...sel/521075.jpg

or is it like this one:

http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/...ir_bearing.jpg

The first one.

I used the slide hammer to secure it in and I am pretty dang sure it is fully seated, but I could be wrong. If it were in crooked, it seems like the axle wouldn't have gone in. Or at least not smoothly.

I wouldn't think that the sensor would have that much play in the mounting hole, but something is up.

It is possible to get a bearing in there a little crooked with the axle too, but it's unlikely. My first guess is definitely the reluctor or the sensor. Heck man, its so beat already, why not just bend it a hair and call it a day? Does your tcs/abs function properly now?

Function properly? 95% of the time yes. Rarely low trac comes on for no reason.

I think I will go for the bend method or something similar.

Thanks for the insight.