If you've never rebuilt a rear end yourself don't do it in a parking lot by yourself. I've rebuilt hundreds of them working for Dana, and I can do a full floater or semi-floater in about an hour and a half now... Thats with it out of the truck, on a stand. If it were in a truck, on the ground, with me working on my back, it would probably take me 4 hours, at least, and thats if all the tools will fit and be able to turn while the housing is still under the truck.

You'll have to isolate the whine. Go out and get a pair of cheap mechanics stethoscope. If the driveshaft yoke on the pinion shaft (or the pinion shaft itself) has visible play (if you can move it more than a thousandth or two by hand) your pinion bearings are shot, or the pre-load on your bearings are shot, which will take out the bearings real quick. If the noise comes from the bottom of the center section, its probably your ring and pinion, and you'll have to tear apart the assembly to determine whether its bad carrier bearings, not enough preload, improper gear tooth pattern, or improper backlash... If you want to know how to measure all of those things let me know and I can walk you through it. The other possibility is that you broke off, or at least chipped a tooth. You can SOMETIMES feel this when you spin the driveshaft by hand, other times you won't feel a thing without a load on the gears. If you cracked a tooth, or chipped it, your done, its over... time for a full rebuild, and new R&P gears are a must, remember, they come in a matched set.

 

ok i haveit apart right now. everything inside looks good w/o taking anything apart. gears look wonderful. i do have a few little metal shavings in there. small sand grain size. not much. wondering if thats normal. or if i should take it apart. gonna give up for the night. unless i get a second wind. no excessive slack anywhere. blah... nap time!

 

some small particulant is normal

since you have the cover off now jack up each side one at a time to allow the axle tubes to drain out

then you can spray all the shavings out in preperation for the new fluid

 

so im taking it in to get fixed tomarrow. found a place by my shop. guy was nice and said if he wasnt to busy would teach me how to do it. YAY!

thanks everyone! i`ll let everyone know how it goes. and what all is bad besides the whole thing!

 

Had that sound arise once while taking an I64 entrance ramp.
I looked out my side view & saw my left rear tire riding out about two feet away from the chassis!!!
arghhhhh!

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It was my 67 GTO, not Running/Sitting Buffalo....

 

oh, forgot to tell ya it was a twisted axle.... arghhh

 

so got a call today..

i need new gears. new bearings .... just as i thought new everything.. i dont have enough money for everything.

2000 bucks.

 

Holy Cow !!!!!

 

Go to a junkyard and pull a Dana 80 out of anything, it'll be a lot cheaper than that, and it doesn't take much to swap them out of a Ford or anything else.

 

hahah.. no thanks. i would rather have an almost brand new axle. with the $75 more for the locker. than a junk yard repo.. i use my truck for work. i depend on it. dont need to do it again in 6 weeks down the line.

thanks tho