Schism64

My mostly stock 95 3.0 with 150K appears to have a low rumble possibly from the rear carrier.Was thinking about dropping the carrier to fix a minor oil leak from the cover, and while at it have the carrier checked out. I know next to nothing about about differentials, once I pull it, will there be anything I can see, problem wise?, or is it just best to have a pro tear it down and check it out?

BTW, anyone know about how much to get it checked out, ballpark?

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

check your u-joints in back while you are under the truck since they are so close to one another it could be either making the noise. you can easily pull the differential yourself and take a look inside. I would think visible signs will be chipped teeth on the ring or pinion gear, play in the pinion bearing (in/out or wobbling of pinion), then lastly would be carrier bearings.

prices to have it looked at by a pro could be all over the place, but if you're going to be taking it to a shop anyways, I would say to have them service it and rebuild with a solid crush sleeve, seal, and set the gear mesh pattern correctly. It won't be much more time for them to do this vs just inspecting it. figure it will take them a couple hours, so maybe $200-300 since you're not needing new gears to be setup?

lastly, if you're running stock gear ratios (which you most likely are) then it might be much cheaper for you to just go pick up a used differential off another truck and swap that in. these can be found for $25-300, but most likely on the lower end unless you have 4.88 gears.

good luck!

Schism64

Thanks, already dropped and checked the U-joints while trying to search out the wicked vibration at 50-60 mph that I had. Thanks to search function on Yotatech, was able to determine that the companion flange off the t-case was hand tight. Retorqued/locktite took care of that.

According to my door tag, I have a G144 rear, still need to confirm but should be the 4.88's (as long as prior owner left them in) So I'm guessing that a used diff. with 4.88's would probably cost me in the $300+ buck range. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do a stock rebuild 'cause except for some beach trips and light trail, its never going to be more than a mall crawler.

Don't know any rear end builders, are there any recommendations from the board members?

Thanks

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

Best board member for doing differential work is ZUK from www.gearinstalls.com - otherwise call around to any gear/tranny shops in your area to see who can help you out.

Schism64

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.