For the past month or so now my rear ends has been making a growling noise and has seemed to be getting worse, It makes the same noise noise all the time even if i slip in into neutral. At first i thought it was a u-joint but those are fine and it makes the noise while its in neutal, then i though wheel bears but when i put the rear end in the air and took the tires off but everthing spun freely by hand and didnt make any noise at all and i opened up the differential to see if i possibly shaved a gear but didnt see anything abnormal, although the gear oil was a milky grey like i had water in it, my buddy thought it could be a rusted pinion bearing and told me to put some really thick oil in it and see if that helps, which i havnt done yet but what are some of your guys thoughts?? definatly drivin me nuts listening to it

What do your brakes look like? Try spinning your hubs a bit and see if it still makes noise. Make sure you get some lube in their first. Keep using the same weight till you figure it out, then go from there.

The milky fluids not good.. Suppose its time to inspect the rear end..

hubs? im talking about my rear end not the front

Yeah I didn't know what to call em, the area with the wheel studs on the end of the axle shaft. Basically checking if its wheel and brake related vs bearing and diff related.

Ya i checked the brakes, knocked all the rust off em to but yet it still makes the same noise

Internal bearings is really common on Jeeps.

Miles

ya i thought wheel bearings but w/o the tires on the axle seems to spin fine no noise or nothing just really smooth

That's with no weight or load on them.