from 4.11's to 4.88's

[jjhancock]

Picked up the truck yesterday morning. The good news is that I'm loving the 4.88's with my nitto 315's. The bad news is that I'm still getting the strange noises. Didn't have time to work on the truck yesterday as I took the girlfriend to see Wicked for her birthday. I will be confirming the drive shaft in / out of phase this evening and am hoping to rule that out.

AxleIke - can we meet up this week or weekend to compare the noises we're getting after the new gears? I'm curious if the sounds we're concerned about are the same, and if not, how close they might be.

 

[Bobzooki]

I suggest a good quality stereo with a high-power amp, turned up to the point that eggs become hard-boiled in front of the speakers in less than 15 minutes. Dig back to the 70's for some Uriah Heep or something, and you'll never know that you have a whine in your diff.

 

[AxleIke]

Picked up the truck yesterday morning. The good news is that I'm loving the 4.88's with my nitto 315's. The bad news is that I'm still getting the strange noises. Didn't have time to work on the truck yesterday as I took the girlfriend to see Wicked for her birthday. I will be confirming the drive shaft in / out of phase this evening and am hoping to rule that out.

AxleIke - can we meet up this week or weekend to compare the noises we're getting after the new gears? I'm curious if the sounds we're concerned about are the same, and if not, how close they might be.

Sure thing. Love to meet up.

I talked with Jerry @BT this morning. He's thinking it could be a diff issue.

I found out after searching that you have to check u-joints with a prybar, not just by hand. I'm going to check that this week.

 

[jjhancock]

So I pulled the front drive shaft yesterday and attempted to replace the u-joints... I swung the hammer for 2 hours and never got one cup pressed completely out. What a PITA!!! The truck is quieter now with the CDL locked and obviously in rear wheel drive only now, which points to something in the front end. I'm getting the u-joints replaced in the front drive shaft tomorrow which I really hope fixes the problem. If not, then I'm going to have to find some "ears" to isolate the problem and eliminate it.

Anybody know how to pull the cup out of a u-joint, or do I just need WAY bigger vice grips??

 

[AxleIke]

I'm sure you did, but you removed the snap rings, right?

I've always assumed that you had to use a press or special U-joint tool for these.

 

[jjhancock]

I did get the c-clip / snap rings out, and to be honest that was quite easy. I have decided however, that changing a u-joint is a job best suited for the pros.

I think with the right equipment I would have been fine. I do have one of those press tools that I got from harbor freight a long time ago, and it *seems* like it would work, but it was cumbersome to use to say the least.

 

[jjhancock]

Front drive shaft rebuilt and re-installed... same noise. I did a test last night where I drove up and down S. Boulder hill on 36, and although much quieter, the noise I'm hearing is still faintly there when I bump the transmission into neutral going 70 mph downhill. First bet is it's a wheel bearing, 2nd bed is it's the pinion, third bet is the transfer case output bearing. I'm 99% positive the noise is coming from the front... Robbie, did you get your ears yet???

 

[Nay]

Ok, you said same noise but quieter? That's probably not your R&P.

Remember that 4.88's make everything spin faster, and old joints on a lift (running at high angle) don't like this.

A decel vibe could very well be your rear driveshaft, either the u-joints on just a "getting pretty old" spline.

I added less than an inch of lift this year and my rear driveshaft hates it. I even lengthened my LCA's to fix the pinion angle and I still get a nice decel vibe. I need new u-joints, maybe an entire new driveshaft.

If your swapped R&P was running smooth before the swap, I'd be looking at the driveshafts and what they connect to - it's amazing what changing the RPM on a well worn pattern can do as far as noise, having lived with drivetrain noise on another rig that drove me insane I feel for you. It was one reason I was very hesitant to ever regear my 80, but Toyota stuff is so good a properly set up 3rd is unlikely to make noise past the break-in period.

Pull the rear driveshaft and leave the front on and see what happens.

 

[AxleIke]

I'm working on my rear driveshaft right now. Got the ujoint replaced yesterday, and the double cardan torn down today.

Then, for fun, I cleaned all the grease and paint off with a wire wheel and acetone.

I've also decided to replace my centering joint in addition to both u joints, and I also did the CV high angle modification to get maximum flex out of the double cardan.

It'll be a few days before I get the centering joint, so I won't have results for a while.