So as i began my 45min journey to my moms garage, (where i do all the work on my rig), had some drive line noise, pulled over, nothing too obvious & it was dam cold so i continued on to the heated garage for a better look. Got there & the rear shaft was ready to go & luckily i had a spare. Did my work & began my 45min trip back home.

Half of the noise is gone BUT theres still a distinct noise that ONLY exists when i step on the gas & dissapears when not under a load. Got home, its 1:30am & cold & my parking spot still has snow on it so i felt the rear end, (ford 8.8), warm & normal, BUT then i touch the tcase, (231 w/SYE), & dam near burnt my hand off!!

Im going to assume that thats not normal & my 1st order of buisness is to check the fluid but figured id throw this quick question up, (is that normal after a long drive?), & so as i head to bed, i'll see what replies i get in the mornin..

Tks.

 

Deff gonna be warm but checking fluids where you gotta start.

 

Dumb ques but where is the fill, err.. fluid check?? (231)

 

Theres no dumb questins ...on very back to left of rear slide yolk on drive shaft .

 

Nice pic freegdr.

Those drain/fill plugs are 10 MM internal hex. You'll probably need a socket/hex bit and a breaker bar to get them loose (if they've never been out). Take the FILL plug out FIRST before removing the DRAIN plug.

 

I have a SYE & theres a bolt where u have that red circle.. ill just pull the fill & make me a dipstick to check it.

 

Ignore red circle fluid should trickle out fill hole to be at correct level

 

Different years have different looking plugs who knows why.

 

& so it did just that when i removed it so even tho the tcase is full, burning my hand from a millisecond long touch still seems not normal to me!

The thud.....thud....thud...thud..thud.thudthudthud noise now happens all the time now & is very noticable from a dead stop to 10 or 20 mph & then the hum of the tires takes over as i approach highway speeds. Somethins deffinately wrong in the drivetrain somewhere & now the one thing thats got me is that i JUST had new tires mounted & balanced this past sat, (35" Baja Claw TTC's), & between then & now is when this noise came to my attention... grrr