Differential noise??

[mexicanjoe]

Hey crew got a problem. Old Bessy my 89 F-250 has developed a clanging noise whenever I shift gears. Doesn't happen every time , but enough I had to check it out...,placed the truck in neutral,chocked the tires and crawled under for a look see.... we I can twist the drive shaft and hear some noise from the diff.... it's a 4.10 rear axle so I've never had to deal with this problem. If it turns out ol Bessys tear end us going out( no pun intended) what would be cheaper: buy a used diff or purchase a ring and pinion and hope for the best, BTW who sells ring and pinion at a cheap price ? Thanks!

 

[Thewespaul]

Angel I would pop the cover off and take a look at it, if it’s full of metal glitter I’d get another rear end. If you can’t find one near you i have more here

 

[frankenwrench]

I had a similar issue when I still had my stock rear end. All spiders looked good, ring and pinion looked good, but my pinion bearing was verry worn and allowed it to shift ever so slightly, maybe 1/16 inch in and out with driveshaft removed. I put in an extra pinion/bearing shim and it got rid of the clunking till my new bearing and gaskets came in. After installation, never had the issue again. But as TheWesPaul said, glitter, or even worse chunks, might wanna go see Wes about another one.

 

[Macrobb]

I've seen all the rear diffs wear over the years, and yeah, you get a bit of play in there.
My thought is if it's getting annoying, buy a "crush sleeve eliminator" and shim kit for the differential, and just shim it till you've got just a little clearance left. I ran some tinfoil through between ring and pinion as a gauge.
Pattern won't be great, but the way I figure it, I can either A, replace the ring and pinion or B, shim it... and if the pinion wears out, well, I didn't lose anything.

It's been 10-20K on a couple of rear ends I've done this with and no ill effects. Honestly, it'll probably still outlast the rest of the vehicle assuming it doesn't run low on oil.

 

[mexicanjoe]

Thanks guys. One things I made sure of was the diff had plenty of grease... if I can't find one locally I'll make the five hour drive to SAN Antonio... I'll keep y'all updated.... BTW what years can interchange?????