2011 Silverado rear end noise?

[Rutwad01]

My 2011 Silverado 1500 with the 14 bolt rear end is making a noise. It reminds me of trucks i heard years ago that would have the rear end rebuilt avs not shimmed correctly. It whines going down the road. I did replace a leaking pinion seal earlier this year. I didn't notice slack in the pinion bearing. Could a bad pinion bearing cause this noise, or what may be the culprit?

I did add Bars gear repair to it recently. 90% reduction or better in noise..... for less than 200 miles... lol . Now it's back.

 

[D60]

How did you reset the pinion nut after seal replacement?

 

[Chris142]

How did you reset the pinion nut after seal replacement?

This. It has a crush sleeve

 

[Rutwad01]

How did you reset the pinion nut after seal replacement?

I know nothing about it. I just pulled the old seal and replaced. Did I make a mistake?

 

[mk378]

If you tightened the nut too much that will crush the sleeve more than it was, which will cause the gears to be loose.

 

[i6pwr]

I know nothing about it. I just pulled the old seal and replaced. Did I make a mistake?

If you didn't at least make a mark on the pinion shaft, nut, yoke before you removed it, and return to the exact same spot with maybe a tiny bit more tightening past the mark....like a hair, then you might have the bearing preload incorrect, possibly too tight and may have damaged the bearings.

How did you re-tighten the pinion nut? What method?

 

[Rutwad01]

If you didn't at least make a mark on the pinion shaft, nut, yoke before you removed it, and return to the exact same spot with maybe a tiny bit more tightening past the mark....like a hair, then you might have the bearing preload incorrect, possibly too tight and may have damaged the bearings.

How did you re-tighten the pinion nut? What method?

I really cannot remember. I think it was in February when I did it. Sounds like i need to take it to a mechanic, and probably what I should have done to start with. I guess if the bearing is bad, the gears have to be removed? Ughh

 

[i6pwr]

I really cannot remember. I think it was in February when I did it. Sounds like i need to take it to a mechanic, and probably what I should have done to start with. I guess if the bearing is bad, the gears have to be removed? Ughh

Gears are probably ok, I would get it in the air and use a stethoscope, or if someone has some chassis ears....find out where the noise actually is.

The carrier bearings might even still be good but I would think you could pull the bearing caps remove the carrier noting the position of all the shims check the carrier bearings if they're okay replace the pinion bearings with OE bearings and check the pattern before and after. You might get lucky with just pinion bearings.

How many miles? Because you get into the situation if you're already pulling the carrier you might want to press a new set of carrier bearings but the gears might be fine. However this adds in to resetting preload on the carrier and maybe a pattern change so if they look good maybe let them keep going. I would leave the carrier bearings alone to not change the gear pattern

It's not really a huge deal to pull the carrier you just need to make sure what comes out goes back in in the same position. Both left and right caps, their orientation up and down, and which shims are on each side. Not fun to do with a 9.5" in the driveway but doable with a buddy.

Edit to add:

Once the gears have settled in, they don't like any change in mesh pattern. Really depends on how many miles you have, and if you want to keep it, maybe just redo the whole rear once you pull the carrier out. I'll let others chime in on this.

 

[Lubener]

I know nothing about it. I just pulled the old seal and replaced. Did I make a mistake?

Most likely yes. You have to perform a pinion preload adjustment/verification. Simply marking the nut as others have suggested is not the correct way to do it.

 

[i6pwr]

Simply marking the nut as others have suggested is not the correct way to do it

I agree. Probably the only way to get in the ballpark in a pinch.

 

[Rutwad01]

Thanks guys. Truck has 103k miles. Sounds like a trip to the mechanic shop is in my future. Maybe i can find a whole junk yard year able assembly to swap. Or is that a chance not worth taking?

 

[dbias]

Thanks guys. Truck has 103k miles. Sounds like a trip to the mechanic shop is in my future. Maybe i can find a whole junk yard year able assembly to swap. Or is that a chance not worth taking?

I wouldn’t throw any money at it other than a drive line mechanic. If you’ve changed the fluid yours is probably still in better shape than any junk yard unit.

 

[Rutwad01]

I wouldn’t throw any money at it other than a drive line mechanic. If you’ve changed the fluid yours is probably still in better shape than any junk yard unit.

Will something catastrophic happen if I continue to drive, or just keep making noise?

 

[Chris142]

If you tightened the nut too much that will crush the sleeve more than it was, which will cause the gears to be loose.

It will put to much preload on the bearings and cause then to burn up.

 

[Rutwad01]

It will put to much preload on the bearings and cause then to burn up.

So if i don't address it now, it's going to become a bigger issue?

 

[D60]

I dunno that I'd go to just any indy. Ask around local Jeep clubs or hot rod circles for a good gear guy.

At this point I'd pull the axles and the carrier and at least measure pinion bearing preload. Hopefully it's either too little or too much. If the former, you might get away with just snugging more, but long term success is questionable. If it's too much, you need a new crush sleeve at the very least, and bearings should be visually inspected while the pinion is loose/out.

If it were me, I'd probably just replace the bearings with a new crush sleeve and start over. UNLESS pinion bearing preload measures acceptably from the start -- THEN the problem may lie elsewhere.

You can do 90% of this yourself if you can have the truck down for awhile. But you'll need an expensive dial TW and you must be willing to crush the sleeve which will require a pinion holder and feces load of leverage -- can be quite challenging on the ground because between the bed, the leafs and the ground there's rarely room for the mega cheater pipe you'll need. The 10% you can't (easily) do is pulling the larger pinion bearing -- you can pay a shop to do that and press on a new one.

If any of that sounds intimidating, take it to a good gear guy.

 

[D60]

Also guys will think they're clever and tell you they used a relatively inexpensive Park beam TW. Eh, maybe.

My back-to-back testing shows the Park within 2-3 of my CDI dial. If you're dealing with a spec of 6-10 inch lbs (ie a spread of four), a variation of 2 to 3 is obviously significant. Who's correct? My money is on the dial.

 

[Chris142]

So if i don't address it now, it's going to become a bigger issue?

Ya if it spins a race in the housing it's all junk

 

[Lubener]

Thanks guys. Truck has 103k miles. Sounds like a trip to the mechanic shop is in my future. Maybe i can find a whole junk yard year able assembly to swap. Or is that a chance not worth taking?

If the differential is damaged, a junkyard unit is the way to go instead of putting a lot of money into your diffie.

 

[Rutwad01]

Truck started making a noise maybe 6k miles ago or so just guessing. Is it possible that if I have someone properly set the pinion seal nut now that it would prevent further damage?