I just had a local garage replace all the bearings associated with the diffrential and rear axle assmy. Before that for the past 5k or so the little sound became a noticable roar. I have 105k and was a qt low in the diffrential prior to the work. The mech says he can't say for sure if the fluid was low enough to cause the damage or it was just time for them to go. The two pinion bearings were the worst. He said the ring and pinion gears looked fine. Anyway I plan to always plan to keep the diff toped off from now on anyway. Just wondering anybodys thoughts, or if bearings can go bad at 105k. I replaced them all with Timken bearings. Thanks, Joe
B-300
03-09-2007, 03:53 PM
Low oil is the likely cause. I have over 200k on mine. If the oil is low the ring gear won't have enough oil to throw forward onto the pinion bearings and they will be the first to go due to lack of lube.
Also you should change the oil after about 2k miles to flush any metal from the new bearings, it's like breaking in a new engine.
--B-300--
Dodgevanman
03-11-2007, 12:56 PM
If your van is equipped with the 9.25" rear axle, that was a problem with those from time to time. My '94 has a slight vibration as well, but I'll get around to it eventually.
