84 longbed 2wd pickup odd noise
 

A couple of weeks ago I made a bad mistake in hauling some blocks and putting too much weight in the truck.

I now have an odd noise coming from the back of the truck the sounds like a thumping sound at very low speed, ie/ when slowing down to stop or starting from a stop. At high speed (above 40 mph) can not hear the noise. It is not a very loud thumping noise but it is loud enough to hear as there was no noise before hauling the block. It is also worse when there is any amount of weight in the back.

I am thinking it sounds like the driveshat U joint might be going out, but wanted to ask here and see what others think it might be.

Thanks for any help,

Noil

Could be a u-joint or something loose . might also be a trans mount broken.

Sorry for the delay, weather has been bad and time to take an indepth look has been short.

Today I took a closer look at the issue, put the rear end on jack stands and took a look at what is going on with some one inside the truck and with it in gear.

The drive shaft looks and sounds fine. However much to my disappointment there is a clicking sound coming from the rear end, kinda of like putting a card in bicycle spokes clicking that increased with acceleration.

It would appear that I have done a nasty number on the crown or pinion gear and possibly the side axles. Really have not got a place where I can pull the side axles off (no shop), so I am at a stand still with this issue until I can get it over to my friends shop and tear it down and see how bad the damage is.

Is there anything I should be looking for other than broken teeth when I get the rear end apart?

Thanks,

Noil

cheap thing: drain the diff oil through a strainer and look for metal...
I overloaded my old '84 once and blew a rear axle seal...