So I posted a few days ago about my rear end woes... but now I am not so sure.

I checked the rear diff fluid, its clean and free of silver. There is not a drop leaking anywhere: not the axle seals at the wheels, the plug, or the bearing in the front.

The howling noise is a hard beast to pin down. It only seems to happen when the jeep is warmed up and you have been driving for 10-15 miles already. Then the noise is between throttle, meaning: if you're on the gas you don't hear it, if you're off the gas you don't hear it. It's that space in between where I assume the driveshaft is matching the speed of the gears that you actually hear it.

The only other related thing I can think of is that when you shift our of park into drive or reverse, you hear a slam.

I'm having a guy look at it wednesday. I'm hoping a fluid change + lucas might be the fix, or maybe a U-joint.

Any ideas fellas?

 

Sounds like a bearing to me.

 

So if it's a bearing, which one? And how much at the shop (40/hr) to fix your best guess?

 

Sounds like a trans bearing, probably front shaft/Pump bearing, but if your gonna pull it to do that one, do the rear and all the seals too just to be sure.

Depends, if you pull the trans out and bring it in, should only be like 2-3 hours, if they have to pull the trans and put it back in, add 6 hours (I think it's 6, might be a little less, I don't have the flat rate manual here to tell you definately. I know it doesn't take that long, but they will go by the flat rate manual and that's what Chrysler says it should take. It usually takes me about 2 1/2 hours to pull a trans and put another in, but I do them on a regular basis and have worked out a system.

 

To add to the list of symptoms:

This howling only occurs between 35-45 MPH.

???

 

Axle bearings? Spend some time listening to it before you send it to a shop. Could be the driveshaft too, if it's out of balance, it could be the rpm range where its the furthest out of whack and stressing the yoke bearing in the rear end the most.