A very good friend came over tonight with one of his friends and we drove my truck around awhile without being able to reproduce the noise or the vibration. We crawled under it for awhile and took a peek - nothing seems to be loose and the boots still show no signs of being damaged. The one thing they/we noted again was the gear oil on the front diff., and for the time have diagnosed it as something with the seal being damaged. It will be investigated further sometime in the upcoming week, and in the next few days I'll drive it a bit and see about previous symptoms.

Just wanted to update anyone who was curious, and thank those of you who offered serious suggestions in the previous thread. Hopefully we can keep this one on topic without whatever went on to close the other. In the meantime, tomorrow we're doing some CB installs, deckplate and ISR mods, and installing a body lift on Sunday.

I'll update this thread with any future developments!! (and thanks again to those who helped tonight in person and previously in the thread!)

 

 

glad to hear you have narrowed down the search for the leaking gear oil!!! Does it still leak out a lot? Good luck with the installs and problem finding!

 

oh, and do you remember the picture of the truck with the wood and PVC pipe bumper? we put a note on it asking why.

 

Thanks! I actually don't think it is leaking out a lot anymore ... taking a closer look at it, it seems that it's just due to a damaged seal and just a very slowwwww leak. I'll be sure to check the fluid when we replace the seal.

 

bwahahahha

 

yea im kinda in your same situation except with my rear diff. Not sure if its leaking or not...LOL anywys, good luck and keep us posted!

 

Oh no! What happened to your rear diff.?? I can see how it would definitely be harder to tell with the rear ... hmmm ... I hope you're able to find out soon one way or another - peace in knowing!

 

LOL...ive got 200k on the rig and i think the axle seals are going.....or maybe my extended diff breather isnt working to well. ever since i took the breather out and blew all the crap out of it, it seems like its not leaking anymore. Roger Brown suggested that it could just be sneaking past the seals, and the seal might not actually be blown. LOL Sorry, no more hijacking!

 

no worries on the hijacking, trust me! here's to hoping that your seal isn't actually blown!!! more precisely, it is the axle seal that's blown on mine ... strange for a vehicle with only 7k miles ... but way better than what everyone seemed to be fearing/guessing at first (and way better than what I was thinking too!).

 

o come on, you know you wanted to SAS

 

is that not covered under warranty? I wish i only had 7k on mine!

 

hehe, shhhh!

i'm looking forward to driving it some more tomorrow though ... see if the popping / pinging occurs again.

 

7k = thanks to school being a block away and no one wanting to ride in my truck at other times due to the noise ...

i think it probably is covered under warranty, and i'll know more this coming week, but in the very beginning when i had rear diff. problems, they said that since i had a lift kit and went offroading, warranty was void.

we'll see.

 

ahh..the good old voided warranty eekkk :pat:

 

yeah. ah well, it's all okay!

 

Glad to hear that it's nothing too serious. Have you checked to see how much diff fluid you lost? I know you said it seemed to be a small leak, but its worth keeping in check. Good luck!

 

I seriously thought it couldn't be the first guess.

You are welcome for the advice.

 

Was that the guess that leads now to my being the biggest yahoo? I'm ready to accept that if need be. (and I do thank you for your advice, and apologize for my sensitivity)

 

Update: Yep, double-confirmed, damaged seal. ATF is still full though, so the leak is pretty slow. Will get it fixed sometime this coming week or next. I can't wait to take a look at the old one!!

Went offroading again today and no problems, no popping/clunking, just really impressive as far as the traction and power.