my whine totally disappears, if the wife stays home.

really, no whine.

 

I get a little whine sometimes when I let off the gas going slow (25mph or less) but not usually. seems to stop when i top off or drain/refill the transfer case but it doesn't happen enough that i have paid strict attention to any possible correlation.

i definitely would try and find some videos, you may be chasing a ghost. my (limited) experience is that they are pretty noisy, clunky, etc. at least it isn't a tick.

i whine far more about my rover than it whines to me...

 

The diffs normally don't whine, if anything the t/case can and one way to cut that down is using an 85/140 gear oil.

 

The diffs normally don't whine, unless the ring and pinion have been replaced and set up properly. The maine whine comes from the t/case and can be cut back by using an 85/140 gear oil.

 

I changed my fluid and filter on the tranny yesterday and the whine is probably 75% quieter now. It's not gone but it sounds much better. The fluid level was also pretty low. Put in a bottle of lucas stop slip and castrol transmax and it shifts soooooo much smoother now. The whine on deceleration still has me worried though. I drained my rear differential and added fresh fluid and luckily the old fluid looked great still.