Sounds like I might have some rear differential problems on 98 Chevy 1 ton.

[wtd]

I'm curious what's wrong, it's hard to kill a 14b FF

Me too because there was no indication of anything leading up to that one day where I heard that initial clunk. I've never worked this truck that hard since I've owned it. The last time I towed anything was in early August when I had to trailer my Cavalier home on my car hauler trailer.

Once the shop looks at it and lets me know what they find, I will give an update.

 

[scrowley]

heel to toe, yeah a pia. Worth the cost to pay an expert "Torque that pinion nut 400ftlbs and now how many inch lbs are those bearings tight?"

 

[wtd]

Update: Took the truck in today for its appointment. Turns out all it was, was a bad rear U-joint which they said looked like the original one. They said the pinion was tight and that the fluid was full and looked good. Front U-joint was still good.

I guess I should have looked at the U-joint a little closer and maybe I would have seen that there was an issue with it. The guy said that even though the joint was still tight, he could see where rust was coming out from under the caps and that the joint was starting to wear into the yoke a little bit.

I drove it about 35 miles and heard nothing when going from park to drive or reverse. No strange noises on the drive back home. I'm glad it was something simple and relatively inexpensive.