I recently had an o-ring fail on my rear passenger hub. Consequently it shot the oil from my rear differential in my rim. Brought it to a shop for an estimate and I don't think the rear tires were even removed before they gave me an estimate of 900.00, knowing the o-ring cost only a couple of bucks. Decided to do it myself. Changed the brakes as suggested and both o-rings since i had to take it down anyway. Easy enough.

Here's my problem, i have a humming noise coming from the differential. I removed it, inspected it, the teeth are in great shape. Not sharp, pitted or worn. My axle seal is leaking and must be replaced but the noticable issue is entirely too much play in the linkage connecting my rear diff. The humming sound begins when i take my foot off the accelerator and guiding to a stop. Is their a way to adjust? Are there torch specifications for the rear diff. Any suggestions?

 

No, once a ring and pinion have seated in, if there is a noise, it can not be adjusted out.
Have you inspected the pinion bearing and carrier bearings.

 

The noise you refer to when letting off the throttle is your differential most likely. wether its the front or rear is a question. Either way you need to remove which ever one is causing the noise and inspect it. If all the teeth are in good shape then it is likely a carrier bearing or one of the main bearings that hold your ring gear. There's 3 bearings I believe. 1 for your pinion, 2 for your ring gear. Make sure the flange/yoke nut is tight that your drive shaft connects to. move it up and down for any play. There's should be practically none.

 

what exactly do you mean "too much play in the linkage" did you refill with same weight gear oil? and fill to capacity?

 

I would say its a bad pinion bearing or loose pinion nut/bolt. There is 2 pinion bearings (inner an outer) and 2 carried bearings. Probably cooked the outer pinion bearing if it was low in oil. Usually a tell tale sign is the whine under deceleration and goes away under acceleration.

 

I appreciate the help. I removed the gears from the pinion. I believe its the carrier gears that are exposed. Top and bottom of the gears. I will replace both. Oil was leaking from the seal also and since it is already apart, I would like to change those bearings and seal but I can't figure out how to remove the yoke and seal to expose the inner bearings. Would a standard gear puller work?

 

Attached are the pics of the disassembled rear differential for my 01 Discovery. Anyone has schematics for the Diff that you can share or a site that i can download? Can't figure out how to remove the flange (yoke) and seal to get to the pinion bearings.

 

There are specs in the rave manual on how to set them up. As far as removing the piece on the yoke You need to heat it up and use a slide hammer puller or order a new o e and torch it out, they can be a real PITA. Under that is a bolt or nut, loosen that and the yoke should come off. As far as replaceing bearings youll need a press and make sure you get the shims back in where they came from.