Pretty sure I mentioned that there is almost no rust underneath my truck. I will try to remember to get a picture and post to set your minds at ease. The diff and u bolts are all in good shape.
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Rear axle failed 2005 Silverado
- Thread starter 350Rocket
- Start date
You can research it if you want. But yes it has to match. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what parts are actually spinning in the front end, so maybe if I planned on never using 4wd again, I could put the wrong gear ratio in. However, no shop is willing to put the wrong gear ratio in my 4wd truck around here. And when we have heavy snow, there is often bare patches of road on and off. So using it with the wrong gear ratio would be a big no no.
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- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
- Messages
- 809
no ratio must be the same.....period.......you are correct.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
- Messages
- 809
no need for pics...........
I'm assuming you have a 1500 series truck with the semi floating rear axle... it has bearing pressed in the ends of the axle tubes and most likely has C clips on the inner ends of the axle shafts. those C Clips do allow a tiny bit of end play in the axle shafts, and if memory serves correctly the only thing holding the axle in place is the c clip..
that said it almost sounds like you have a suspension problem, on what is a pretty basic suspension..
I’ve never seen an axle allow enough side to side play to notice it while the c-clips are in place. theres simply not enough wiggle for that to happen. If the axles are coming in and out, something is really, really wrong. If the c-clips are detached, the axle comes out, unless there’s a retainer in the design. and if it was a bearing problem in the carrier, I think there would many other clues. I’m not saying it’s not, because I’m not there, but u-bolts and shackle bushings and all those things start crossing my mind.
I have changed it 2 or 3 times in the last 100,000kms but I don't believe it was changed at all before about 280,000kms when the locker started getting stuck locked after spinning in snow. I didn't own the truck back then but it was my company supplied vehicle. I had the fluid changed at the garage I used to work at and it solved the problem. It started doing it again a couple years later soon after I bought it and I changed it again, which once again fixed that problem which hasn't reoccured since. I actually forgot about it.
I believe in changing the fluid at least every 50k miles as I'm sure it would have slowed down the wear.
Well the rear end was inspected and they couldn't find anything worth replacing. Their theory is that the clunking is a result of a some play/wear in a number of parts, such as the leaf springs, axles etc, nothing a problem in itself, just enough to cause a clunk when the truck is heavily loaded and driving slowly over rough road or terrain. I forgot to mention it also periodically squeaks under these types of conditions but not always and it's been doing that for years. Usually the rust protection oil spray makes it go away for a while.
They said the gears looked in great shape and there was no significant metal on the magnet and the fluid looked good still (2 years old). I had them change the fluid and no I'm driving it as it is and not letting it bother me.
Could very well be bushings.
That's probably part of it.
Shocks were replaced about 2 years ago (good ones - can't remember which brand but I picked them for extra load capacity), the tailpipe hanger at the back does have some play and probably could let go anytime but it's not making the noise by itself. I believe that it's a combination of a lot of things.
I've had shocks make a clunk on bumps from a bolt being slightly loose, check them anyway.
Check the control arm bolts for the rear axle also.
Not really a true panhard bar but check the bar that goes left to right behind the axle.
If you had carrier movement back and forth, you would hear a TON of racket while driving it.
If you pulled the wheel and brakes, you can take the axle and push it it with a normally functioning axle/carrier. The slight in and out movement is normal on a semi-float rear.
Check the control arm bolts for the rear axle also.
Not really a true panhard bar but check the bar that goes left to right behind the axle.
If you had carrier movement back and forth, you would hear a TON of racket while driving it.
If you pulled the wheel and brakes, you can take the axle and push it it with a normally functioning axle/carrier. The slight in and out movement is normal on a semi-float rear.
Thanks, I will check the shocks and control arm bolts this weekend hopefully. The noise has not gotten any worse and I've put almost 2k miles on it since it started. The guys that looked at it said nothing was really of concern in the rear end at all and I believe they'd be happy to take my $ if they could.
Every Grand Wagoneer I had would emit an audible clunk when shifted into Drive. It is all the clearances involved in getting the wheels to turn. It isn't a 'single' one of those clearances, it is all of them. It isn't a soloist, its the entire orchestra. 
I've had a couple cars that would do this in the past, I was told it was just a bit of pinion slop. It never caused an issue. This truck actually has no clunk at all when putting in gear, it's just when going over uneven terrain at low speed. Still hasn't gotten worse since this started.Every Grand Wagoneer I had would emit an audible clunk when shifted into Drive. It is all the clearances involved in getting the wheels to turn. It isn't a 'single' one of those clearances, it is all of them. It isn't a soloist, its the entire orchestra.
