grinding rear end
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 588
Likes: 0
From: Chesterton, IN
grinding rear end Okay... this could be bad, but It's not stopped me from driving my car yet, so it can't be toooooo serious. Still, I'd like to get some oppinions before I tear my T/A down.
My stock rear end is making a horrible grinding noise which may have started at the racetrack, but I'm not sure exactly since I usually have the radio on pretty loud. It's so loud every single person who gets in my car asks me if something is dragging or if I have a brake hung up. It's not a brake. It doesn't change with braking activity, but it does change with torque application and speed.
When driving down a freshly paved blacktop highway which makes almost no tire noise it's still hard to talk over the noise from the rear end. When I take my foot off the gas and hit that sweet spot where the engine is not pulling the car and the car is not pulling the engine (no torque on the drivetrain) the noise goes away. Of course, as the engine speed slows down the noise comes back because there is (negative) torque on the system again.
The car is not bleeding, nor can I feel anything wrong. I'm a driver who is very in tune with his car. If it were pulling even remotely or clunking/wobbling/etc... I would know it. There's nothing. Just a heckovalotta noise.
Has anybody ever had their rear end do this? Does anybody have a clue what could be wrong? I'd really like to have some ideas before I tear the car down.
Thanks in advance.
My stock rear end is making a horrible grinding noise which may have started at the racetrack, but I'm not sure exactly since I usually have the radio on pretty loud. It's so loud every single person who gets in my car asks me if something is dragging or if I have a brake hung up. It's not a brake. It doesn't change with braking activity, but it does change with torque application and speed.
When driving down a freshly paved blacktop highway which makes almost no tire noise it's still hard to talk over the noise from the rear end. When I take my foot off the gas and hit that sweet spot where the engine is not pulling the car and the car is not pulling the engine (no torque on the drivetrain) the noise goes away. Of course, as the engine speed slows down the noise comes back because there is (negative) torque on the system again.
The car is not bleeding, nor can I feel anything wrong. I'm a driver who is very in tune with his car. If it were pulling even remotely or clunking/wobbling/etc... I would know it. There's nothing. Just a heckovalotta noise.
Has anybody ever had their rear end do this? Does anybody have a clue what could be wrong? I'd really like to have some ideas before I tear the car down.
Thanks in advance.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 588
Likes: 0
From: Chesterton, IN
Re: grinding rear end *whimper*
Thanks for the fast response. You think I ate a gear, eh? Ok. Any idea how ex$pen$ive it will be to fix? Do I need anything but the gear set (gaskets, seals, widgets, schnoodles?) Would this be the ideal time to upgrade to a 4.10:1 gear? Is there anything else I should consider doing while I have the rear end apart? (cheap/easy mods)
And the real question of the day "Is it even worth fixing the stock rear-end?" Of course, I have a VERY VERY VERY limited budget so the answer will depend on how much it costs to fix this problem.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated. This is my daily driver and I have an 80 mile round-trip commute. This car gets some serious MILES and I can't afford to be without it.
Thanks for the fast response. You think I ate a gear, eh? Ok. Any idea how ex$pen$ive it will be to fix? Do I need anything but the gear set (gaskets, seals, widgets, schnoodles?) Would this be the ideal time to upgrade to a 4.10:1 gear? Is there anything else I should consider doing while I have the rear end apart? (cheap/easy mods)
And the real question of the day "Is it even worth fixing the stock rear-end?" Of course, I have a VERY VERY VERY limited budget so the answer will depend on how much it costs to fix this problem.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated. This is my daily driver and I have an 80 mile round-trip commute. This car gets some serious MILES and I can't afford to be without it.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 588
Likes: 0
From: Chesterton, IN
Re: grinding rear end You don't think it's something broken? I bought the car with ~30K miles and now it's near 50. It didn't do this when I bought it. It also doesn't sound like the kind of gear whine I'm used to (timing gears, etc.) It sounds more like the way a drum brake does when a shoe is hanging. If it's just the typical noise one of these makes after 40Kmiles that's great because it means nothing is about to grenade on me, but it also sucks because I have to turn the sterio up half way to cover it up. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Sad]" src="gr_sad.gif" />
Thread Starter
TECH Resident
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 992
Likes: 0
From: Schererville, IN
Re: grinding rear end Mmmmm...Is it acually making a grinding noise? If you hear a high pitched hum, I would say gear whine. If it's a grinding noise then maybe the posi is toast. Try doing a burnout and see if you leave two tire marks.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 588
Likes: 0
From: Chesterton, IN
Re: grinding rear end Nah, dude. She's grinding pretty bad. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Sad]" src="gr_sad.gif" /> If I get a chance to take it out tonight I'll see what kind of burnout it does. Of course my poor old street tires will not thank me, but what the heck. It's all in the name of science, right?
<img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />
<img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />
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TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 588
Likes: 0
From: Chesterton, IN
Re: grinding rear end Okay, so after driving this sumbitch to work every day for the last couple months with it grinding away the noise got so bad the sterio could hardly cover it at all. I finally got around to tearing it down and found a SHITLOAD of metal filings stuck to the magnet inside the cover. I have pictures of the gears HERE
They don't really look that bad. There's a little bit of wear on the outside edge of the teeth, but that's it. There are no broken teeth on the ring or the pinion, and I didn't see anything noteworthy inside the posi, either.
Thoughs and suggestions welcome.
Oh, and PS. Should there be play in the axles? Like, with the wheels off the ground, I place one hand at the front of the wheel and one at the back making a horizontal line across the diameter of the wheel and push back and forth. The wheel rocked noticably and my wife could see stuff moving in the (opened) rearend. The passenger side seemed to do it a tiny bit and the driver's side did it quite noticably.
They don't really look that bad. There's a little bit of wear on the outside edge of the teeth, but that's it. There are no broken teeth on the ring or the pinion, and I didn't see anything noteworthy inside the posi, either.
Thoughs and suggestions welcome.
Oh, and PS. Should there be play in the axles? Like, with the wheels off the ground, I place one hand at the front of the wheel and one at the back making a horizontal line across the diameter of the wheel and push back and forth. The wheel rocked noticably and my wife could see stuff moving in the (opened) rearend. The passenger side seemed to do it a tiny bit and the driver's side did it quite noticably.
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