Thanks Mark!

You're a champion of Jeep life!

 

Blew my rear diff pinion gear last week. :-( Got parts and since I have no experience with gears having a pro do the install--fellow I've had do some other work before. Sure hated to see my Jeep towed off. FYI, since the owner's manual says to tow it with all four wheels off the ground in this case because it may damage the transfer case and/or transmission (you'd think they could make up their minds or tell you to put the transfer case in neutral on 4WD models--bearing in mind there were 2WD 2007s sold), I pulled the front drive shaft. Needed to grease the CV joint on it anyway for an upcoming trip (Tom Woods), so that was no big deal. Also, while I was troubleshooting the weird noise that ultimately was the pinion gear, I noted that my rear locker had stopped working. Broken wire I ran across, so Tim (mechanic) said he'd fix that before buttoning up the diff.

Drain plug. Definitely should not look like this.


Couple teeth from the pinion gear hung up in the ring gear.


Tore a lot apart trying to figure out what was causing the noise. Amazing how many tools you can use!


Hooking up the two truck. Pulled the spare to provide clearance. And, as mentioned, front driveshaft to protect trans/transfer case.


:-(

 

Dang. Getting pricey. Considering a regear while you have one torn apart anyway? I could not think of a better excuse. : )

 

I think Mark's already running 4.88:1's!

 

Yes I am. No need to regear. Just repair.

 

Hey Mark, crappy!

What kind of noise was it making?

 

Sad to hear Mark! I didn't realize you were running 4.88 with your 35's. Would you recommend it for someone with a manual?

 

That's what I have with a 3.8. And most of the time it works great--definitely recommend. The times it's not is headed uphill, running very heavy (and I run stupid-heavy), into a strong headwind. Then it sucks. But I don't think 5.38s would help much. And after Mark's problems in Borneo running 5.38s, I think I'll just stick with the 4.88s and shift down to 5th, 4th, yes even 3rd, when that wind really gets to whipping around on the plains.

 

Good question. I actually thought I had a tire tread coming apart. Which would have delighted me since I need to change the tires anyway, LOL. But it wasn't. It was just a flop, flop flop sound in sync with vehicle speed--not five times faster (suggesting a driveshaft problem), but more in sync with the tires. It wasn't a grinding noise at all. But, Mark in Borneo, who by pure happenstance had a very similar experience (he was IMing me for ideas not realizing that my Jeep was suffering the same fate, LOL) described his problem as a loud grinding noise.

 

Mark that picture of your beloved Jeep being towed down the street is one very sad picture.