[shawn900]

Hey, I'm new here and need some help figuring out what's up with my truck. I have a 95 Ram 1500 4X4 with 5 speed manual tranny. I have a 5 inch suspension lift, 3 inch body lift, 38 inch tires, and 4.56 Genuine gears with about 500 miles on them. The truck has 50K miles on it. What's happening is when I am going down the highway and let of the gas there is a mix between a grinding and whining noise. It quits when I completley let of the gas but if I hold the pedal with just slight pressure on it, it continuously makes the noise until I get back on the gas again. It is the most noticable when I'm in 5th gear and going at highway speeds. Also when I let of the gas in any gear completley there is a cluck. Here is what I have checked so far. U- joints - good, backlash in rearend since I just put in 4.56's - good, pulled tranny because that's where the noise sounds like it's coming from, went through it and everything looks fine. Could it be a pinion bearing and the noise is vibrating up the driveshaft? I don't know where to go next with this. The gears shouldn't be that noisy should they. Any input I would appreciate.

 

[canyonero02]

are you running lockers?

 

[Biginuf]

This is the 2nd time today that im going to offer the possibility of a bad......HANGER BEARING. Eventually I will be right. Mine went bad and made a clunking noise when ever i let off the throttle or got onto it hard.

 

[shawn900]

I wish, but no.

 

[shawn900]

I guess we were both posting at the same time. I'm not familiar with the hanger bearing, what exactly is it's purpose?

 

[does it matter]

On 2002-01-18 17:56, shawn900 wrote:
Hey, I'm new here and need some help figuring out what's up with my truck. I have a 95 Ram 1500 4X4 with 5 speed manual tranny. I have a 5 inch suspension lift, 3 inch body lift, 38 inch tires, and 4.56 Genuine gears with about 500 miles on them. The truck has 50K miles on it. What's happening is when I am going down the highway and let of the gas there is a mix between a grinding and whining noise. It quits when I completley let of the gas but if I hold the pedal with just slight pressure on it, it continuously makes the noise until I get back on the gas again. It is the most noticable when I'm in 5th gear and going at highway speeds. Also when I let of the gas in any gear completley there is a cluck. Here is what I have checked so far. U- joints - good, backlash in rearend since I just put in 4.56's - good, pulled tranny because that's where the noise sounds like it's coming from, went through it and everything looks fine. Could it be a pinion bearing and the noise is vibrating up the driveshaft? I don't know where to go next with this. The gears shouldn't be that noisy should they. Any input I would appreciate.

you said you dont have a locker, what about a limited slip diff. that will have a little play in it, and what you would be hearing is the noise of the driveshaft taking up the slop if you let off the gas and then hit the gas again. you also didnt say who put the gears in. gear work is more of an art than a science and should be left up to a pro unless you have all the neccessary tools to put them in.

 

[shawn900]

I don't have a limited slip either. I have a good friend who put the gears in for me. He has been doing gears for 5 years or so. When I pulled off the diff cover the contact path for the gears looked fine, right in the middle. But for some reason I think it's something in the rearend that he could have been slighltly off on, it's kinda starting to irritate me.

 

[Dsertdog56]

Lets see if the Ol' Dsertdog can tap into his memory a bit on this. It seems when I was a younger pup, I used to set up a lot of old Mopar drag cars like Cudas, Roadrunners,etc. Anyway, Mopar always talked about something called "Pinion angle" Seems to me this pinion angle deal was crucial to U-joint life and pinion bearings, and could also cause annoying clunks and groans when going in to gear. As this 'ol Dog matured and the love of high speed changed to slow crawl, he bought and lifted an 81 Dodge stepside w150. Finding out that he had installed the rear liftblocks BACKWARDS after several toasted u joints, he redescovered the joys of proper pinion angle, and was on his way.
Also, you can check your pinion gear by simply rocking your vehicle back and forth while in gear, and watch for any up and down or forward and back pinion/yoke movement. Anything noticable is cause for concern, tho your gear mechanic should've covered that in his instalation. (crush sleeves anyone?)
Which brings to mind another Dsertdog destruction story, but its time for my dinner. Good Luck!

 

[does it matter]

On 2002-01-18 20:56, shawn900 wrote:
I don't have a limited slip either. I have a good friend who put the gears in for me. He has been doing gears for 5 years or so. When I pulled off the diff cover the contact path for the gears looked fine, right in the middle. But for some reason I think it's something in the rearend that he could have been slighltly off on, it's kinda starting to irritate me.

i think you said you have a 1/2 ton. the pinion bearing has been known to freeze up on the 9.25" (mainly because they are undersized for what they are doing, compare a chevy 1/2 ton pinion bearing to that of the dodges and youll see what i mean). have you check the u joints? possibly your buddy didnt tighten the rear yoke to the correct 400ft lbs or so? if it happen after you had your gears done, you know where it went wrong then.

 

[shawn900]

Thanks for the help so far, I guess my next step is to check the pinion bearing and make sure the pinion angle is O.K. Seems as though I will figure it out sooner or later. Any other suggestions?