Tempest161

Really appreciate any input that anyone can give me on this problem. I was coming home the other night and whenever I pushed the clutch in there was a pretty loud whining noise coming from the rear, when I let it back out it was still there just not as loud. Now, I have had a vibration for awhile coming from the rear and am not sure what was causing this either, but it got worse when the whining started. Tonight I was able to get under it and take a look. The first thing I noticed was there was a small amount of fluid coming from the front of the pumpkin where the drive shaft connects. I drained the fluid pulled the driveshaft and the first thing I noticed was the pinion nut was loose, so I was thinking, well this for sure looks like the problem. I tightened the nut back up, put the shaft back on and put new fluid in and took it for a test drive. Now, I did not drive far, but I was not feeling the vibration or hearing any noises coming from the rear. I drove back home and when I looked back under the truck, there was fluid coming out again. Not alot, but I am concerned. Does anybody know what would be causing the leaking and could the nut being loose contribute to the vibration at all? Also, how do you get that nut to stay tight?

Jay351

The pinion seal is probibly gone. Usually the breather (on top of the axle housing) gets plugged up with gunk, since the gears heat up during driving it the increased pressure build up forces the oil past the weakest point. Your pinion seal seemed to be the weak link. Remove the breather with a 14mm open ended wrench and check for blockage.

As for your pinion bolt, is the nut staked properly? Did you torque it down to the right spec?

Tempest161

Hi Jay, nice name, that's mine too. Thanks for the info on the breather, I will check that out. As for the pinion nut, I did tighten it to specs with my torque wrench, but not sure about the staking. I assume you mean there should be some type of key or wedge that you place after the nut is tightened. Is that correct? If so there wasn't one of these when I took off the driveshaft housing. I got this truck from a dealer awhile back very cheap, and they had replaced the pinion bearing. I don't think they knew what they were doing, because I did have to adjust the drive shaft because they did not put it on correctly when I got it. I am sure I can get one of these stakes from my local dealer if that is the case of it being and actual part, but my manual does not say anything about it. Maybe someone can elighten me on this.

abecedarian

staking is getting the nut torqued to spec and then using a hammer and punch, you hit the side of the nut, bending it slightly, so that it won't loosen on its own.

Tempest161

Thanks for all of your help, really appreciate it. I will let you know the outcome of fixing it.