96 explorer rear pinion

[p2e1r12t]

yo guys, i got a 96 explorer 4x4 4.0 litre auto that makes a terrible whining noise from the rear end from about 25mph on. it gets less noticable when decelerating. found a fluid leak at the pinion shaft in front of the pumpkin. figured i'd replace the seal and be done with it. well when i got the shaft dropped and pulled the adapter off the spindle there sure is a lot of slop on that pinion shaft. that has to be the source of the noise but i don't know how to tighten it. i wrenched on the nut holding the adapter on with no noticable difference. i'm thinking i need to take it all back apart and take the gears out of the rear end so i can get to the back of the pinion gear? any help would be appreciated as i'm sure that slop will chew up my new gasket pretty quickly. thanks, jerry

 

[IZwack]

If there's play in the pinion, you need to replace the pinion bearings (and possibly the bearing races themselves). Do a search on this, its been covered a few times on a few threads such as this one:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134818