Went on a run last sunday with the local land rover club (Rowher Flats for anyone familair with the socal area) Went to take the kids to school on monday morning and there was a whining that almost sounded like tire noise coming from the rear end of the truck on deceleration. Since i had aired back up rather hastily before heading home i decided to check my tire pressures before i continued on for the rest of the day. Checked tire pressures (which were a little low) and adjusted, noise was still there..

Last night I had a minute so I climbed under the truck and figured i'd change out the diff and t-case gear oil as well as grease the u-joints for good measure since we're going on a pretty long trip at the end of the month. Front diff and t-case looked good, rear diff - not so much. It was quite black with lots of fines in the oil (lots of sparklies) but with no chunks or bigger pieces of debris. Filled everything back up and hoped for the best. Set off this morning and the noise persists. From doing a little research it looks like i've got a pinion bearing R&R in my immediate future. Not a problem as i have all the necessary tools to do the job including a dial indicator to set the backlash in the rear diff. I'll probably replace the carrier bearings while i'm in there. Another of the while you're at it thins will be to replace the u-joints in the rear drive shaft since i'll have to drop it anyhow and have a couple of sets of u-joints in my spares box.

On a side note - anyone know the length of the bolts for the rear flange for the driveshaft on the diff? I've got a good hardware store nearby so getting the correct 3/8-24 bolts and nyloc nuts isnt a problem.

I'll try to remember to take pics and update this thread with my findings.

 

You're better off just swapping in a known good diff. Unless you have aftermarket gears/lockers.. Setting up backlash correctly on a worn out R&P is not very fun and can be a shot in the dark cause of wear patterns.