need advice on isolating winding sound that winds up when accelerating & down when deccelerating - non-existent when idling.

 

Advice: tell us what you drive.

 

vehicle is a '93 2WD 4Runner. 3.0L engine, automatic tranny, 268k miles

 

When did the noise start? Did you do any work on the truck right before the noise showed up? Did it suddenly appear or did it get louder over time?

And can you describe it better than a "winding" sound?

 

got gear oil in the rear?

 

winding sound has gotten gradually louder since it started about 3 weeks ago. no work done prior to noise starting. What possibly led up to it, is a rear diff' runnin way low on gear oil. Since replenishing rear diff', the noise has not gone away. could it be propeller shaft related?

 

sounds like a good cantidate for a pinion bearing if it was running low on oil for a while.

 

yup... just toasted my rear dif that exact same way... get it fixed soon before your pinion shaft decides to chew all the teeth off on the ring gear...

pull it... if its not too bad, then shoot ZUK (gearinstalls.com) an email... he'll sort you out...
if it is bad, then shoot ZUK (gearinstalls.com) an email... he'll sort you out...

he set me up a 4.88 dif and did a writeup for me too!
http://www.gearinstalls.com/troy.htm

 

I ask if you have gear oil in the rear only to learn it started making noise when you were low on gear oil.
Check the pinion bearings, then the carrier bearings then the wheel bearings.

 

will git around to in-depth analysis sometime in the next week.
havin trouble locating someone with a stethoscope.
lookin fer makeshift steth' options fer now.
thanks to all for all your invaluable info!