Benthos
NAXJA Forum User
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Northern CA
Posts: 57 #1
Yesterday, 17:56
Is this front end noise normal? (video)So I've been having what I think is a louder than normal roar around 60 mph. No change for four wheel drive. The pinion seems tight. No play in the drive shaft. Sounds like what you would expect from very aggressive tires driving next to you. It's subtle, my passengers don't notice it.

Took a look at the u-joints and they were completely shot so I just swap them out and threw on some new SKF axle hubs while I was there even though they seemed fine.

Reassembling everything I noticed there is a clicking noise when turning the hubs buy hand that sounds like it's inside the differential.

Is this normal gear noise or is it louder than it should be?

 

Almost sounds like you have a locker in your front end .

 

So not normal?

I've had this xj it's whole life. I no mods have ever been done so no AM locker. How should I trouble shoot?

 

I have been scouring YouTube to try and find some clip in any of the videos on xj's where somebody turns the axle hub to see if that noise is there, and I can't find one. Literally a thousand videos on how to replace the axle hub and not a single person turns it at any point.

Nobody knows the answer to this?

 

it sounds normal to me. when i changed my ujoints i spun the hubs like that to check them for play and wear. if i remember correctly, i got the same noise you are getting.

do the hubs feel normal?

 

Yes it's not from the hubs. It does it on both sides. I'm hoping it's just the normal meshing of the gears but I could see at high speed that making the noise I'm talking about. I'm tempted to pull the differential cover and just take a look. Although admittedly I wouldn't really know what I was looking for and I haven't found any good videos on how to inspect the internals of a differential yet either.

 

If your not sure it is ok , then just pull the cover and look at the gears and see what the gear oil and gears looks like .

 

I the diff.opened the diff.

It seems to be the spider gears:

I did not see any metal shavings or chips, everything looks pristine. So normal? Or does my spider gear need to be replaced?

 

Looks good to me.

 

It all looks good form here , nothing jumping out to me . now would be a good time to put in a lunch box locker .