So here’s the deal… Bought a 97 Cherokee Country with 98k on it almost a year ago exactly. From what I can tell, it was poorly cared for so I have been doing things here and there while using it as my daily.

Anyways, I did a lot of driving during the holidays ( have 103k miles now, short commute) and noticed that I started to get a howl on decal and a bit of a whine/groan an accel. It was pretty obvious that the pinion bearing was shot so I opened it up (had changed the diff fluid about 1k miles prior to this)and noticed some metal flakes so I tossed some cheap lube back in, sealed it up, and drove it for a week while I searched for a new rear axle. This jeep has the D35 as it has ABS, I don’t off road, so I picked up another D35 from a local salvage yard that had ~90k miles on it, the pinion was tight, and looked to be in good shape. I brought it home, popped her open, cleaned it, and inspected it, all looked well, and so I threw her back together and swapped axles over a weekend.

First test drive it was silent, so I’m all excited, feel accomplished and call it a day. I’ve been driving it since (about 4 weeks) and this axle is now starting to develop some noises… It started to sound like the beginning of a bad bearing (not sure where) and the rear brakes kind of popped when coming to a stop so I pulled the wheels to adjust the brakes properly, brake problem solved. In doing so, I noticed there was some play in the passenger side wheel bearing. So thinking the bearing noise was a result of the wheel bearing, I rented a puller, took it apart, pulled the axle (bearing surface was all scored and trashed) luckily I saved the ones from my original axle that are still in good shape, popped in a new bearing and seal, threw it all back together. Checked for play and it was nice and tight. Take it out for a drive, the noise it still there. It’s very hard to explain the noise, usually when a bearing is bad you get a constant groaning sound. This sounds more like a pump running out of fluid. What I mean by this is that you get periods of groaning followed by a light hum. It is not a solid groan, but random/intermittent. It does not get worse with speed and actually kind of goes away at about 50mph, or I just can’t hear it over the road noise. The noise is there independently of accel/decal. I did not have this noise with the original axle. Part of me thinks I am hearing something new seeing I don’t have the noise from the original axle, but another part of me feels as though it’s the new(ish) axle. I cant feel any play in the drive shaft u-joints, but I do plan on replacing them soon as I get a slight rumble for a second at 32mph then again at ~65mph.

Before I start taking things apart and throwing money at it, has anyone experienced this noise in the hopes that I can be pointed in the right direction? Sorry for the long winded post, I just like being thorough.

 

I'm interested to here what the replies may be on your posting. I am having a noise issue with my rear axle as well. With my rig I only here the noise when I take my foot OFF the accelerator.