Rearend Howl
Rearend Howl I went to a ski resort last week and the and it is a windy road to the top of the mountain. When I came back down, I used 2nd gear since it is a 9% decline. I was only doing ~25mph down the mountain to save the brakes. When I got to the bottom, the rear end was howling. It is real noticeable at highway speeds. I removed the diff cover and replaced the gear oil. Did not see anything abnormal either. It still howls after the oil change. Would that be the axle bearings? I used a tube of limited slip additive along with 2 quarts of Redline 75w-90. Kind strange it started all of the sudden and I was being easy on the car. Any ideas?
Hi,
I've got the same thing going on in my recently (7-8-04) purchased '02 Camaro Z28 (w/ 45K on the clock @ purchase 57K, now). In which, I finally broke down and took it over to the local Spicer. One of the service techs. agree w/ me on the rear right bearing cuz'in the howling/roaring. But, he also, said that, we might as well go ahead and overhaul the rear-end. Stating that, while the axle bearing might be the issue, @ the present time. Once we do go into it and repl. the bearing. Just to find out the carrier is also, making a noise that, we couldn't hear earlier b-cuz of the bearing. Then, we have to go back into it, again.
So, he suggested we just going ahead and overhaulin the rear-end the first time. Therefore, eliminate any poss. of the any other bad parts, costing $650.-850.
Then, he states heck, what can you expect. When GM puts all that housepower in front of a weak 10bolt rear-end.
Good luck,
Don
Silver '02 35th Ann'y A4(2.73) Camaro Z28 w/ T-Tops(lookin into the ext. warrenty covering the rear-end overhaul)
P.S. After re-lookin @ you sign, Blacker. Your TransAm looks like the one I totaled back in '01. Except, mine was a '98 M6 T/A w/ the 3.42's. Which is what I'd like to up-grade to, during this overhaul.
I've got the same thing going on in my recently (7-8-04) purchased '02 Camaro Z28 (w/ 45K on the clock @ purchase 57K, now). In which, I finally broke down and took it over to the local Spicer. One of the service techs. agree w/ me on the rear right bearing cuz'in the howling/roaring. But, he also, said that, we might as well go ahead and overhaul the rear-end. Stating that, while the axle bearing might be the issue, @ the present time. Once we do go into it and repl. the bearing. Just to find out the carrier is also, making a noise that, we couldn't hear earlier b-cuz of the bearing. Then, we have to go back into it, again.
So, he suggested we just going ahead and overhaulin the rear-end the first time. Therefore, eliminate any poss. of the any other bad parts, costing $650.-850.
Then, he states heck, what can you expect. When GM puts all that housepower in front of a weak 10bolt rear-end.
Good luck,
Don
Silver '02 35th Ann'y A4(2.73) Camaro Z28 w/ T-Tops(lookin into the ext. warrenty covering the rear-end overhaul)
P.S. After re-lookin @ you sign, Blacker. Your TransAm looks like the one I totaled back in '01. Except, mine was a '98 M6 T/A w/ the 3.42's. Which is what I'd like to up-grade to, during this overhaul.
Last edited by Don B 02 Z28; Mar 14, 2005 at 07:02 PM.
I had planned on putting about 250 miles on it tomorrow but, I will get it checked out instead. If the rearend is no good then a Currie 12-Bolt will be installed.
The pinion and carrier bearingr were pitted. Now, the rearend only had 1,500 miles on it and I put 7,000 miles on it. At the time I installed the rearend, I used Redline 75w-90 and could that have caused failure? Just don't want to use Redline if it will ruin the bearings again.
Well, looks like the rearend was bad when I bought it. The diff oil was burnt after 7K miles. I am sure the Redline 75w-90 is not supposed to be black when it is drained. Looks like it finally bit the dust while going up the hill. Most likely overheated due to the bearings being bad and causing friction. Hell, the transmission temp went from 125* to 165* while going up the hill. The car that the rearend came from was t-boned. This probably had a negative effect on the pinion if the car was hit hard enough.
