Bacchus

New to the Jeep World

Sold my truck and bought a 99 Jeep Cherokee about 3 weeks ago to get debt free. A week ago it developed a loud grinding noise in the rear differential when I would coast at 35-60 mph after I took out the blocks in the rear and put in a new leaf pack.
I took it in to my shop and they said it was the rear wheel bearings, so I had them fix it, then it grew to the inner wheel bearings, and a week later, $1100 spent it is still howling. They said to bring it back in 500 miles so they there was further damage done, if the gears need to be rebuilt for $2000-$3000.

From the invoice, they replaced:
Wheel Seal
Axle Housing Cover Gasket
Differential Bearing
Pinion Seal
Wheel Bearing
Pinion Bearing Cone
Pinion Bearing Cup
Pinion Outer Bearing Cone
Pinion Bearing Cup
Pinion Bearing Spacer
Axle Shaft Bearing - Remove & Replace

So in the end, I am still not sure what was broken and what was fixed.
I have taken my vehicles there for about 2.5 years now, I don't know if I'm being taken or what?

Turbo X_J

Bad idea lol, Cherokees suck up money like a black hole. JY differential for ~ $250 (make sure the gear ratio is the same) and you should be GTG.

RicoSuaveXJ

Overall, a Cherokee is pretty reasonable. Try daily driving an Audi and you'll find out what a money pit is!

Bacchus

Is was that or keep making payments on a truck that was going to need a lot of work soon. Eh, don't know how I feel about it now.

I know i can pick up Dana 30 or Chrsy 8.25 with stock gears for $200 around here, does anyone know a ball park labor cost for remove and replace on a axle swap?

Turbo X_J

Shop time is ~ $100 / hr. Rear differential complete R&R I'm going say 3.5 - 4.

Bacchus

Damn it...now I'm thinking I got taken by the shop. I asked them about swapping out the rear axle before all the other work was done since I seen them for a few hundred around here. They told me it was going to be a $2000 labor job if I chose to go that way.

I'm already $1000 there...

blakexcore

Pinion bearing? Either way you should have an 8.25 but you should post a pic to be sure. You can do the axle swap with hand tools and a lot of elbow grease.

Bacchus

It sounds exactly like this Yeah I got a 8.25.

Does anyone else understand the shop telling me to drive it for 500 miles while its grinding and making that noise before they check it again?

blakexcore

Doesn't sound like a pinion bearing. No idea why they would say that. I don't know anything about axles but I know I would have just replaced the axle in the first place.

kgm

Put ANY rear differential in it. You can probably get a Dana 35 from a guy who is upgrading his offroad rig for FREE, or very close to free. Put the rear end on jack stands, cut off the shocks, run your brake lines, a few other parts, and your leaf springs. I'd go back and try to get some of your money back since they didn't fix anything.

pmondo

Hmmmm, mine sounds like that too. I have different gears and a detroit though. Let me know what you find out!

DieselDaze

sounds to me like they should have given you a hypothetical in replacement to let you know it may or may not fix the problem, if they in fact just said its going to be a thousand bucks to fix and its not fixed I'd be seeing red.... they do this for a living if they are not sure what would have fixed the problem in the first place they shouldn't have started digging around...

I too would want half my money back (at minimum) and chalk it up as a learning experience.. if they don't want to negotiate I'd have the BBB arbitrate for me....

one of the many reasons I don't like going to a shop, if I can't figure something out I'll take it to a stealership for diagnosis and then fix the problem myself... they're typically pretty reasonable considering they work on the same type of cars all day long.. (diesels in my case)

belvedere

I would not be a happy camper, and I would be asking the shop owner how he was going to make it right.

Programbo

My '94 XJ has been making a noticable grinding noise from the rear for 6 years now. Other than the sound it runs fine so I've just gotten use to it.

dmill89

X2, and a quote of $2,000-3,000 to rebuild it with new gears are they out of their F'-ing mind? $1,100 should have covered bearings and gears. For $3k you can get a really nice built Dana 60 and have money left over.

I would recommend as others said and get a good junkyard axle. You can easily find Chrysler 8.25"s for less than $300 (often less than $200) and D35s are even cheaper. It is a simple bolt in (as long as your bolts aren't too rusted) and only takes a few hours, a jack/stands, and basic hand tools.