I am getting a whine from the back of my 4 door JK. Sounds sort of like a wire hanger is touching the driveshaft. Its been getting progressively worse. It is related directly to velocity (not rpm). It doesnt appear to matter under load or not (tired up hill/down hill/coasting). I verified all the lubes are full. There is no undue metal in the differential. The driveshaft has plenty of grease in all the fittings.

Any gurus have an idea?


I have about 40,000 miles. This started about 34,000 miles. I have done no modifications since 12,000 miles (got 5:13s then).

 

Anyone have an idea what this sound could be?

 

ebrake cable making contact with your exhaust?

 

I dont see anything touching the DS. That is what it sounds like though. I dont see the ebrak cable touching anything.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

Are you running aftermarket driveshafts?

 

Yes. They were done at a local shop here. I have been greasing all the fittings every oil change.

 

Just a thought...... Drop the diff cover and check the "gear wear" on your ring and pinion. Could have tweaked the rear-end while off road!?!? Or the pinion gear could be “riding high” on the ring gear. That will cause a whine that progressively gets worse.

Did you have any gears replaced or a locker / limited slip installed? True story: I had 4:56 installed in my TJ. Unfortunately, the A$$HAT that installed them didn’t torque the pinion nut properly (crush leaf). I didn’t have a failure until a year later. It cost me over a grand to get fixed!

Edit: Just saw you had your DS replaced. An unbalanced DS can tear up a rear-end (on pun intented).

 

I believe I isolated the cause. It appears that my rear brakes are always engaged - just barely touching the rotor. But enough to make a metal on metal noise. I assume this is not normal. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be appreciated.

 

This is exactly what I experienced. Spent a couple of days thinking it was the back brakes, turned out to be the right front dust cover rubbing the rotor.